Draco Malfoy and the Snake Room
by GallifreyRises
Summary: Book Two of Draco Malfoy and the Ministry of Death. Draco has cleared his first year with flying colors. Now all that's left is clear flying through second year, right? Wrong. Draco really should have paid more attention last time around.
1. Preparations For Second Year

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I know, it may be obvious, but for some reason I still have to state that repeatedly.

A/N: This is a sequel to Draco Malfoy and the Irritating Turban. I highly recommend reading that first. Also, Eobard Thawne is not the Reverse Flash. This is not a Flash crossover. I just happened to like the name. I steal a lot of names from various sources, when allowed to. Also, Nico di Angelo is in fact the character you all know in Percy Jackson, not that he appears in this chapter, which is why he does not appear in the disclaimer. This is also more political than the first one in the series. If politics, finances, and manipulation are not your cup of tea there are millions of fanfictions out there. You don't have to read this one. Finally, Draco isn't dark, he's very Gray though. Also, review! There is no other way for me to know what's working and what's not. Also, let me point out that Bashing Dumbledore has become cliché. Therefore, I will not do it in this series. So without further ado:

Chapter 1: The Preparations For Second Year

Draco Malfoy was not a typical Malfoy, even by his family's standards. For, Draco was from the future. Draco died in the first time line during the Battle of Hogwarts. He had been allowed to return because of loopholes and because Nico, his case manager at the Ministry of Death, declared that he had completely and utterly failed in his destiny. Draco was supposed to befriend Harry Potter, end up with Hermione, and keep Harry alive, at least until Harry killed the Dark Wanker. There was also something about bringing equality to the Wizarding world, but Draco wasn't sure how the hell he was supposed to accomplish that one. Just a few months ago, Draco and Harry faced the Dark Wanker in the third floor corridor, and they stopped him from returning. Draco also killed a guy, but that guy chose his side, so Draco didn't feel guilty about it. After that, and stopping an injustice from occurring, Draco was forced to go home for the summer.

Draco Malfoy could define said summer in three phases. Phase 1: Excruciating torture with a bigoted fool who bows at the cloak of another. Phase 2: Frustration and nearly pulling hair out when Draco fails to find the Diary. Phase 3: Anger when he discovered that Dobby was stealing Harry's letters.

Before Draco could do anything about the Diary as he'd given up hope finding it by usual methods, Draco wanted to ensure that he had some items in his possession. It would give Draco the best chance of success.

"Father, can we go to Borgin and Burkes? I have business there."

"Very well, we shall go tomorrow."

Draco knew that his father would say that, but that was okay, for Theodore Nott would be going in a couple weeks, so going as soon as possible would be necessary, so Theodore Nott would not be able to buy the Hand of Glory. He got enough Galleons from his vault, so he'd be able to buy it instead, as it was a remarkably useful tool, after all, the Hand of Glory gave light only to it's wielder. As a Time Traveler with a mission, it would be most useful, especially when paired with Harry's invisibility cloak.

Unfortunately, it would be tomorrow, as today, Draco had to dress up and have dinner with the Parkinsons. Draco was relieved that the betrothal contract between himself and Pansy was broken, because he needed to be unattached when he started to notice girls again, so he could date Hermione at said time.

However, seeing as tonight was dinner with the Parkinsons, Draco had to be on his best behavior, as Edmond Parkinson was an influential member of the Wizarding World, and one of the few people Draco's father associated with that did not bear the Dark Mark on his arm. Draco didn't know if Edmond did it because he disagreed with the Dark Wanker's methods, or if he thought that publicly siding with the Dark Wanker would be less than beneficial to his house. Draco suspected that the latter was the case, as the betrothal contract was broken the second Draco was sorted into Gryffindor. The unpleasant bit was Pansy Parkinson, who's loyalties were crystal clear to Draco, as she was an outspoken, and public, supporter of the Dark Wanker. If memory served right, she was the reason Slytherin was in the dungeons in the previous time line.

Slytherin always had to be a unified front. You hurt one, you hurt them all. Draco admired that, and with Daphne as king, Slytherin might even be a useful tool against the Dark Wanker. However, he suspected that Pansy would never change her views, and would always support the Dark Wanker, and the Dark Lord after that. Draco would have to ensure that she could not cause trouble, without killing her. He'd have to think on that one.

Lucius, Draco had recently realized, not only would never change, but he would funnel the entire Malfoy fortune to the Dark Wanker's war. Draco could not allow this. He'd have to take care of this eventually, but without revealing that he was way more skilled than he should be.

Dinner at the Parkinson's basically went like this.

"Edmond, I need your help to ensure that Arthur Weasley's little Muggle Protection Act is not passed," Lucius said.

"Really father? Don't you have a Slytherin bone in your body?" Draco asked.

"Do you have a problem with this Draco?"

"Yes I do. It will be harder to convince Harry that I am on his side if my own father is publicly fighting things like the Muggle Protection Act. Harry is central to my plans, as he controls the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter, and if my theory is right, then he is the scion of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. If I am right, and I'll soon find out if I am, then keeping him happy is essential to ensuring that you remain married to mother, and don't have to pay Harry back her very attractive dowry."

"Ridiculous. First of all, you are the scion of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, seeing as you are the oldest male descended from the House of Black by blood, after Regulus died."

"Except, Regulus was never the Lord of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, as Sirius Black was never legally disowned."

"Excuse me?" asked Narcissa.

"That's right. I've checked. The Lord of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, Sirius Black, went to Azkaban without a trial. So, what's to say it won't happen to you father, or to Mr. Parkinson here? After all, Mr. Parkinson is only the Head of the Most Noble House of Parkinson. He's not Ancient and Most Noble, thus below Sirius Black in terms of rank. Second, Sirius would never appoint a Malfoy the Scion of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. He'd therefore, find a new heir. If I'm right, and I always am, then Harry Potter is the Scion of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. So, upsetting him is definitely not very Slytherin, as doing so would be angering the most Politically Powerful person in Magical London. Oh, do keep Sirius' wrongful imprisonment to yourself. I have a plan to deal with it, and the last thing I need is you lot bursting in there like a bunch of true Gryffindors."

"Said the Gryffindor." taunted Pansy. Draco was starting to wonder what he'd seen in Pansy Parkinson in the previous timeline.

"I might have been sorted in Gryffindor, but name one time when I did something out of Gryffindor courage without a plan."

"When you went to the third floor corridor!"

"I had a plan. I just miscalculated how much power the runes needed, but I had a simple plan and it worked perfectly."

"When you refused fifty house points."

"That was necessary, after all, Slytherin won the House cup because of that small, insignificant sacrifice, which means that the King of Slytherin owes me a favor, and I get to pick the favor she owes me. It was purely selfish. You were sorted into the house of the cunning. If you can't see the why in what I do, you obviously don't belong in your house."

That ended the dinner with silence, while Draco celebrated his victory, for he knew that Lucius, though he'd be furious, and he'd punish Draco quite profusely for humiliating him in front of the Parkinsons, Draco knew that Lucius would double check Draco's assessment of the situation, and then, after realizing that Draco cannot be disproved, Lucius would immediately stop fighting the Muggle Protection Act. Without Lucius to fight it, the Muggle Protection Act would pass quickly, as nobody wants to be publicly seen fighting a bill that would mean being seen as a former Death Eater sympathizer. Then, you have to realize who was on the Wizengambot, fighting for the bill in the first place. Augusta Longbottom, Amelia Bones, Eobard Thawne, and Charles Greengrass. It would pass, and for three years, it would be followed very carefully. Muggles would have three years where they could sleep without care, not that they knew that they had been targets before. Not that Draco really cared about Muggles. He really didn't. The people he cared about were the Muggleborns.

In addition to that victory, people would eventually see that he was a snake in lion's clothing, or a lion in snake's clothing. Draco was having a difficult time figuring out whether the things he did were out of Slytherin cunning or Gryffindor courage. Maybe a little bit of both, or maybe neither. It was getting a little alarming come to think about it.

The next day, Draco got up early, and got changed into clothing he wouldn't mind being seen in public in, should he be seen, which he didn't anticipate happening. He pulled out of a trunk, a small sack of Galleons, and walked to the fireplace. He wrote a little note, and walked into the fireplace. He pulled out floo powder, threw it down as he said, "Borgin and Burkes."

The next thing he knew, he was in the Borgin and Burkes, otherwise known as the shopping center for the time traveler with a mission. Everything in this store could be useful for his mission of make sure Harry kills Voldemort. Thankfully, though most of this stuff was certainly more dark than light, all this stuff was technically legal.

"I'd like to buy everything in this store!" Draco said.

"Everything?" asked Mr. Borgin. Draco didn't like Mr. Borgin. He was certainly more fond of dark magic than light magic, but he was a businessman. Business men are predictable. They live for the money. Mr. Borgin was also guilty of embezzlement and fraud, but the world didn't need to know about that for now.

"Well, everything legal to own."

"That is quite a bit of merchandise."

"I've brought enough Galleons for all of them."

"Let me see."

Draco pulled out his large satchel of Galleons. Draco made sure before hand that it contained exactly enough to buy everything he wanted. After an hour of tough negotiation, Draco walked away without any galleons in his bag, and a chest full of everything from Borgin and Burkes. He went back to his house, and placed the things he bought where he wanted them to be until it was time for them to be used. One of them was a chest that ate whoever tried to open it without a key and a specific phrase. He set the phrase to Voldemort, as nobody could even bring themselves to say that name, and duplicated the key. Thus he could give one to Harry, that way, nobody could steal Harry's invisibility cloak. Another was a goblet that removed potions from it's contents. Another was a cursed necklace. Draco knew all about that one's power. The only thing he couldn't buy was the Vanishing Cabinet. Draco didn't mind, as he had a plan about that one.

Then, one day, Draco went to Dobby's cove in order to feed the slave. Draco was absolutely furious when he saw that Dobby had all of Harry's letters. Letters from Hermione. Letters from Hagrid. Letters from himself. All of them. And what's more, he had all the letters that Harry sent. Draco was livid.

"DOBBY!"

"Yes, master?"

"Explain this. I order you to explain yourself."

"Dobby is protecting Harry Potter. Dobby heard Master Lucius' plan to bring danger to Hogwarts."

"I am working on that. If all goes according to plan, I will have the Diary at the end of summer."

"Dobby understand."

"Now I order you to leave Harry alone. I order you not to try to stop him from going to Hogwarts. If my plan fails, I will need his help to end the threat, otherwise it will continue for years. Do you understand?"

"Dobby understands young master."

"Now return those letters to their proper owners, and give an apology to them."

"Yes, Dobby will obey young master."

"Oh, and don't punish yourself too badly."

Then, Dobby handed Draco the letters Harry had written to him. Then, Dobby disapparated. Then, Draco went to his room, and started to read the letters Harry wrote him. Then, Dobby appeared apparated into the room.

"Master Draco."

"Is there a reason you apparated directly into my room?"

"Dobby thought you should know that those nasty muggles put bars on Harry Potter's door."

"What? Give me a moment."

Then, Draco walked into his living room. He knew that two things that could be counted on. First, Lucius hated the idea of muggles living above wizards. Second, Lucius never turned down the chance to scare, and/or torture muggles. Thus, Lucius would be the optimal tool to save Harry Potter from those muggles.

"Father, I have recently received word that Harry Potter is being abused by his muggle relatives. I insist that you scare those muggles a bit."

"It would be my honor."

"Oh, and I don't care what you do to his cousin, but his aunt must survive. I can't tell you why, as the fewer people in the know, the better chances of my plan actually succeeding. but it is essential that his aunt remain alive."

"You do not get to order me around," said Lucius.

"I'm just reminding you, because around muggles, you tend to lose your cunning."

With that, Lucius disapparated out of there. Draco calculated that Lucius would be back by around three, which would give him three hours to get back. There was something that Draco needed to do. Draco sent Hermione a letter telling her to meet him at the Muggle Library in thirty minutes. Then, Draco dressed in muggle clothing, and walked out the door.

It takes thirty minutes to walk to the library, but Draco didn't mind. When Draco got there it would be twelve-thirty. He'd meet with Hermione, he'd tell her what she needed to know, and then, it would be a lot of reading for him. Last time around, Draco often found himself limited by how little he actually knew. Draco would be spending his time learning everything that Muggles knew about everything. Right now, he'd focus on history, science, mathematics, and war. If there was one thing that even Lucius admired about the muggles, it was their passion for warfare. Thus, Draco figured they'd have books on war in those walls. He'd eventually focus on diplomacy and politics. He wanted to know if the Muggles had any ideas on diplomacy. Then, he'd learn economics. Again, Draco needed to know this stuff, as it could be useful in the war against the Dark Wanker.

Thirty minutes later, Draco met with Hermione and her parents, Robert and Elena Granger. Robert was a strict looking fellow, with a pair of cross eye-brows. Those eyebrows were independently cross. They'd probably secede from the rest of his face if they could. And that chin. God, it could probably poke somebody's eye out. It looked as if it longed to go jousting. His hair was so bushy, that Draco could see where Hermione got it from.

Elena was no angel either. She was completely ordinary, in every way. Her hair was sandy-colored, but not memorably. Her face was too symmetrical to be ugly, but not symmetrical enough to be beautiful. She was plain. She had an average amount of freckles on her skin. Every part of her body was in such a location as to not be ugly or beautiful. Draco was starting to wonder how Hermione was so beautiful when her parents were so plain. Draco wasn't a fool. He knew that she was hot, he'd known since the Yule Ball.

"Hello, ma'am, sir. Do you mind if I spoke to your daughter for a moment? It's quite urgent."

"Who do you think you are, asking to speak to my daughter without so much as introducing yourself?"

"Oh, sorry. Forgot to introduce myself. Quite rude actually. The name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

With that, Draco extended his hand.

"That's an odd name."

"It's a family name on my mother's side. I attend Hogwarts with your daughter. I need her help rather desperately."

"Draco did you say?" asked Elena.

"That's my name."

"Hermione spoke about a Draco. Said he was the only one who has never made fun of her, or mocked her. Said you often scolded your best friend for mocking her."

"To Harry's defense, he at least apologized to her when he found out about her background."

"She also said you saved her life from a troll."

"Harry and I saved her from that troll. I just made sure that troll wouldn't be hurting anyone again. So can I speak to Hermione? It is very urgent."

"Go ahead." Elena said.

Draco pulled Hermione to the side.

"What's this about?"

"Several things. First, my father has a Diary that will open the Chamber of Secrets. It is currently magically protected. Not even I could find it."

"So what?"

"So, my father plans to plant it onto a Weasley. It will be out in the open for a whole thirty seconds. During those thirty seconds, we need to steal it, otherwise people will die."

"What makes you say that?"

"Last time the Chamber of Secrets opened, someone died. I'm quite surprised that it wasn't more."

"So we make sure this Diary is in our possession."

"Exactly. If we steal it, then, in theory, nobody dies."

"Nobody dies, unless it gets stolen from us, which I'll make sure it doesn't."

"Why did you choose here to meet up?"

"Because we know that Voldemort will one day return. When he does, he will target Harry. He will quite possibly target me. I intend to be ready for him. We are here to learn about History, Science, Mathematics, and Warfare. I figure everything the Muggles know about, well, everything lies inside these walls."

"You intend to apply Muggle theory to Wizarding war?"

"Why not? It can't possibly fail more than our previous methods of dealing with Death Eaters. Also, I want to view this Magna Carta. I have a funny feeling it holds some clever secrets."

"The document that takes power away from the royal family?"

"Exactly."

"What are you hoping you'll find?"

"I don't know. That's why I want a look."

Then, Draco and Hermione went into the library, and they started to read about History, Science, Mathematics, and Warfare. Draco found himself learning a lot. Then, he read Ender's Game. It was a piece of fiction, but it told him a lot about War and Politics. It taught him how to train soldiers. It taught him how to properly use soldiers riding on broomsticks. It taught him so much, in fact, that he decided to magically duplicate the book, and teleport the book to his house.

Death Eaters, during the last war, were fond of Guerilla Warfare, and formations when they had large numbers. Guerilla Warfare would be difficult to stop, but formations, if the ideas in Ender's Game could be proven accurate, would be instrumental in stopping those. Unfortunately, the Death Eater's didn't have a gate to pass through.

Draco also started reading a book called A Brief History of Time. Draco, reading it, found it to be a most remarkable book. It made sense of things that made even the most intelligent and gifted wizards scratch their heads. He copied it and sent it home. He found a star chart, and copied it, sent it home. It would be useful, as this predicted the star's locations fifty years in advance, hundreds of years in advance. This star chart would prove useful in finishing Astronomy homework weeks in advance, freeing up some time to try to brew that mandrake potion should Operation Diary fail.

He started studying anatomy, and DNA. He found the study of DNA absolutely thrilling, as it could potentially disprove the theory of blood purity. Most people would accept the disproof of blood purity when given the DNA proof. However, some would declare DNA to be rubbish and false. He learned about the dangers of inbreeding, which is what his family had been doing for centuries. He learned that it was a miracle that his own mind was untouched by mental illness and such after so much inbreeding had occurred in his family tree. His family tree was damaged and there was nothing he could do about it yet.

Then he found the war section. He learned the thoughts of Machiavelli and Han Tzu. He learned the techniques of Alexander and Caesar. He learned how to wage war properly. Every time he learned something useful, he'd copy the book and send it home so he'd be able to read it later. Then, it was time to go home. Draco walked to Hermione.

"That was most productive. Now, I have to go home and make sure my dad doesn't kill Harry."

"That was a joke wasn't it?"

"No witnesses, no problem. That's Lucius' motto. He will certainly try to kill Harry."

"Then why is Harry at your house?"

"Because his muggle relatives put bars on his window and were starving him. If I didn't get him out, we might never see Harry again."

"It was kind of rude of him not to answer our letters."

"I know exactly what happened, and I've taken measures to make sure it would never happen again."

"What happened?"

"Harry never received our letters."

"Why not?"

"Because a troublesome House Elf has been stopping his mail. I've taken measures to make sure that Dobby never nicks Harry's mail again."

"How do you know the House Elf's name?"

"Because he belongs to my family. It was good to see you. You know what to do."

"Yes. I'll see you then."

Then, Draco did something quite impulsive. He kissed her on the cheek. He was thoroughly amused to see that pink light up her face.

"Take care of yourself."

Then, Draco turned to walk away.


	2. Operation Diary

Disclaimer: As heartbreaking as it is to say it, just as I do not own a Hogwarts letter, I do not own Harry Potter. Otherwise that epilogue would be, actually, nonexistent.

A/N: Oh, minor plot divergence. In this story, Lockhart will be very different than canon. I'm taking a page from Lesswrong's book, figuratively speaking, and drastically changing his character traits.

Chapter Two: Operation Diary or How Things Don't Always Go As You Expect

Last time around, Potter had only been at Malfoy Manor once. There, Draco had, in a small way, betrayed the Dark Wanker. He'd protected Potter, even if it was for naught. It bought Potter, Granger and the Weasel precious time to escape before the Dark Wanker got there. Draco watched as Bellatrix tortured Granger, sliced into her flesh. Draco didn't understand at the time why he hated every second of it. Why he hated seeing the person he deplored the most in pain. Was it possible that he knew, even subconsciously, that he didn't hate Granger at all. That he never could hate Granger? Maybe. Draco didn't really think about it very much. He preferred to think about the present.

This time, Draco was enjoying Harry's stay at Malfoy Manor much more. Harry stayed an entertaining person to talk to. Especially when he showed Harry the reading he'd been doing, even if Harry didn't really understand the sciences, nor care about the history. Draco was working on it though. And Draco kept Harry fresh on a broomstick, so he didn't develop too much rust. This year, Draco would be going to the tryouts, so Draco'd be able to be a back-up Seeker, should Harry be in detention, or the hospital wing. Draco knew for a fact that he was the second best Seeker in Gryffindor, and while he wouldn't be accepting House Points for his accomplishments, he had no qualms about winning Quidditch matches, or the Quidditch House Cup.

One day, Draco and Harry received letters from Hogwarts. It was the supplies list. A list of books that they'd have to buy for their classes. It looked drastically different from the previous timeline's book list. Instead of hundreds of Lockhart books, there was only one, _Battling The Darkness_ by Gilderoy Lockhart. One Lockhart book. That was quite the change. Several hundred thousand galleons less expensive.

Then, it came. Wednesday. The Wednesday after Harry turned twelve. Draco had already filled Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley twins in on Operation Diary. Draco had already filled them in on the costs of failure. This was it. The last opportunity of foreknowledge. If they failed, then Draco would be going in blind. He knew even less about what happened second year than he did in first year. Why, because Potter, Granger, and the Weasel didn't seem to do anything about the attacks until Granger was attacked. He had just the place to put the Diary when he retrieved it. Someplace where nobody would be getting it any time soon. He just had make sure that everything went by smoothly.

Draco had no proof that this Diary opened the Chamber of Secrets. Just the knowledge that when the Diary was destroyed by Potter, the Dark Wanker took it very personally. Draco had never seen the Dark Wanker so furious. And seeing as Potter destroyed it at the end of second year, and immediately after the Diary was destroyed, the attacks stopped, Draco was fairly certain that the Diary was how the Chamber was opened.

So, it was Wednesday. The day they went to Diagon Alley. Before handing Harry some Floo Powder, Draco turned to him.

"Now the key is to speak clearly. There can be no mistaking what it is you are saying. If there is, then you will end up somewhere completely different than where you intend you go. Eyes closed, because of soot. Elbows tucked in. Don't fidget, or you're likely to fall into the wrong place, don't move, don't panic and get out too quickly, and most important, relax. Everything will be alright. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now you walk into the fireplace, pull out the powder, throw it down, and tell it where you want to go. And don't stutter, otherwise you'll likely appear in Knockturn Alley."

Harry followed Draco's instructions, and off he went. Draco then went into the fireplace and off he went too.

When he appeared, he was in Madame Malkin's. Draco took Harry away from Lucius, and they went to Gringotts. On the steps of Gringotts, they ran into Hermione.

"What happened to your glasses Harry?"

"Harry just went through the Floo Network for the first time. Probably landed on his face. Give me a moment. _Reparo._ Now that that's taken care of, do you remember the plan?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"Do you even have to ask?" asked Hermione. Draco knew all about her photographic memory.

"My father will be in the same building as Arthur in about thirty minutes. That gives us enough time to get Harry a Bloodline test."

"A what?"

"I have a crazy theory, but I need you to take a Bloodline test to be certain."

They walked up to a Goblin. The plate read Griphook.

"Griphook, my friend Harry would like a Bloodline test done."

"Would you like one as well?" Griphook asked.

"I wouldn't mind one done. It couldn't hurt to have one." Draco said. "Actually, we'd all like them done."

Then, Griphook pulled out three pieces of paper. He placed them on the counter. Then, he held up three needles and placed them on the paper.

"You are going to need to prick your fingers, and let the blood drop on these sheets of paper."

Draco without hesitation pricked his finger, and hoped it would give him some good news. Something worth living for. Something that would make his job of bringing equality to the magical world possible. So, when he looked down and saw that he was the scion of the Noble House of Malfoy, but nothing else. Then, Draco saw, on Harry's paper, Lord of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter. Lord of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Gryffindor, and Scion of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. Hermione's remained blank. Pity, she would have made a wonderful ally in his war against inequality. Then, Draco realized that that meant that there were now fourteen active Ancient and Most Noble Houses. Fantastic.

"If you like, we can emancipate you, so you can take full responsibility of your houses."

"Harry and I would be pleased to be emancipated."

A few moments later, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were emancipated minors with Lordships. Draco was honestly pleasantly surprised.

When Draco, Harry, and Hermione walked out of the building, Draco turned towards them.

"You guys remember the plan right?"

"We told you, we remember the plan."

"Sorry. It's just that we only have one shot at this. If we fail, a lot of people are going to get attacked. Some might even die. We have to succeed now."

"Why don't we just nick it from him now?"

"Because, I don't know where he is hiding it. I just know that today is the day he was planning on discrediting Arthur Weasley, getting rid of an incriminating object, and killing who knows how many muggleborns in one fell swoop. It'll be out in the open for about two minutes. Then, it'll be too late.

Draco had a plan. The Weasley Twins would light some of their wet start no heat fireworks. It would distract the adults, while Harry and Hermione magically scanned his father, to make sure that he didn't have it on him, and Draco would search Little She-Weasel bag for the Diary. It would be over in about two minutes.

Unfortunately, there was a saying amongst the Muggles. No plan survived first contact with the enemy, and Draco would have to remember this. Almost immediately, Draco's plan began to fail. Why? Lockhart. That's why. Draco was expecting Lockhart to be a self-obsessed git with the intelligence of a troll. That was not exactly what he got.

They walked into Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore, and there it was, a book signing for Lockhart, just as he hoped they'd be. However, the book was not Magical Me. It wasn't even a typical Lockhart title. It was a large book. It was simply titled Battling the Darkness.

"He should be here in a moment." he heard the Weasel's mother saying. The Weasel's mother was a short, stocky, and kind of dumpy looking woman. Draco'd heard nasty rumors about her. He heard that she brewed her first love potion at the age of eleven, and she'd successfully brewed Amortentia at age fourteen, and used it to snare Arthur Weasley. Draco also heard that a month after the wedding, Weasley was broke, and lost the mantle of Ancient and Most Noble status, a shame that the family was still enduring. Did Draco believe it? Yes, he did.

Then, moments later, the least respected Defense professor ever stepped forward.

"Step right up, I'll be taking you one at a time." Then, Lockhart's eyes drifted to Harry. "Harry Potter. I thought I'd be seeing you."

"What?"

"You are buying textbooks aren't you?"

"Well, yeah."

"Good. I hope you find Defense Against the Dark Arts quite informative. I know I did when I was a child."

That's odd. Not one overly egotistical comment from Professor Big-head. What was going on?

"I'm sure I will."

"I happen to know the professor this year. He's a good friend of mine. He's tough. Very tough indeed. Tough, but hopefully fair."

And is this the point where he announces that it was Lockhart that he was talking about?

"But, you'll have to go to Hogwarts to find out who it is."

What the fuck is going on? Lockhart being secretive about something he's doing that would boost his public approval rating? This made no sense whatsoever!

Later on, when they went to the counter to pay for the books, the teller said that Battling the Darkness was free to second years. That made no sense, as the professor was Lockhart. Lockhart was a fame and fortune hound. His being a professor would have escalated book sales for his students and increased his fortune exponentially. Him making these books free to his students suggested that something was not right, and for once, it wasn't Draco's fault. Draco wasn't even sure that it was a bad thing. Then, Draco's father walked in, and approached the Weasleys. The time was now.

Draco watched as Lucius walked to the Weasleys.

"Well, well, well, Arthur Weasley." Lucius said.

"Lucius." said Weasley.

"Been busy at the Ministry, I hear," Lucius said. "All those raids. I hope they've been paying you overtime?"

Then, Lucius drifted to the Little She-Weasel. He pulled a book out of her bag, looked at it, and sneered. "Obviously not. Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it. Luckily your son is trying to redeem your family's tattered name."

"We have very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy."

"Clearly," said Lucius. His eyes stray to Mr. and Mrs. Granger. "The company you keep. I thought you could sink no lower."

"I thought you could sink no lower farther, than to insult the parents of good friends of Lord Potter Gryffindor. We've already done gotten his bloodline test done. That reminds me, Harry, I'm going to be spending this year teaching you some manners. While I'm at it, I might as well teach you some manners to Hermione."

A few moments later, Arthur Weasley threw himself at Lucius. A few seconds later, it was a full fledged brawl. Then, Draco took the time to look in Little She-Weasel's bag. Hermione and Harry confirmed that it wasn't on Lucius, and Draco wasn't having any luck finding it. Damn it. Draco expected to have a few more moments, seeing as Weasley and Lucius were having a brawl, and there was no Hagrid to break it up, when he heard a confident voice shouting " _Petrificus Totalus."_ It was Lockhart. Lucius and Weasley both went down for the count.

"Gentlemen, I appreciate a brawl between rivals as much as the next man, but can you please take it outside where there is less chance of collateral damage?"

What the fuck was that about? Why is Lockhart making sense? Lockhart never made sense in the original time line. More to the point, why wasn't the Diary with She-Weasel? Oh, Draco was starting to feel like an idiot. He'd underestimated the lengths Lucius would go to in order to rid himself of incriminating evidence. Lucius would never just leave it undefended during the drop off. Lucius would have keep the magical protection on the Diary for an extended period of time. Less of a chance of Arthur noticing that the Diary had been planted. Less of a chance that it wouldn't end up in Hogwarts. That meant that the attacks would be occurring, and there was nothing Draco could do about it. After all, he didn't know where the Chamber of Secrets was, nor did he know how to access it. He didn't know what Potter did during that time period. So, as you could probably guess, Draco was absolutely furious.


	3. Why Wasn't Lockhart A Git?

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter Books. Thanks for crushing my dreams Disclaimer.

A/N: I have a Doctor Who reference in here. Let's see who can spot it.

Chapter Three: Why Wasn't Lockhart A Git

Draco's failure in Operation Diary was the low point in his summer. Lucius was thrilled to have gotten rid of a highly incriminating object. Harry was thrilled to be out of the Dursley's. Narcissa was thrilled to have a happy husband. Draco was considerably less thrilled because he knew that those attacks would happen. He had a slight problem with that. He remembered every attack, last time around, he thought it great, but was upset because nobody died. He also had a slight problem, seeing that he had no idea that who the Heir of Slytherin was. Alright, all Draco had to do was tell Hermione to nick the Diary from the She-Weasel when she was sorted into Gryffindor. Draco remembered the She-Weasel during the final battle. She definitely belonged in Gryffindor. If Hermione nicked the Diary, then no attacks would happen.

Naturally, Draco was desperate to go back to Hogwarts, so he'd be able to put said plan into action, and move onto phase 3 of Operation Get Rat. All he needed to do was get possession of the Rat. He would use Dumbledore to do this. Dumbledore would confiscate all unauthorized pets thanks to Draco's plan, and then, Dumbledore would give Draco the rat, which Draco would keep until it was time to give him to Amelia Bones. All Draco needed was an unbreakable, jar that grew and shrank in accordance to its occupant's size.

He also kept writing to Sirius Black, informing him that Peter Pettigrew would soon be in his possession, and begged him not to break out of Azkaban until the next year. Draco also continued his correspondence with Charlie Weasley, and continued his blackmail of Rita Skeeter. He sent her on former Minister of Magic, Bagnold. With Rita Skeeter under his control, he had the perfect spy under his control. Spies were necessary when he didn't know everything. By the time Voldemort rose again, Draco would need to know everything, so he'd be able to make the best possible plans.

Draco was thankful that he'd given Dobby an extra large list of chores to do, thus Dobby would have little time to stop Harry from going to Hogwarts, as Draco suspected that Dobby would try to do, despite their little talk. After all, Draco seemed to remember something about Potter and the Weasel crashing a flying car into the Whomping Willow. Draco had absolutely no intention of repeating that feat.

So, there they were on the Hogwarts Express with Hermione.

"We have a problem."

"What is it this time Draco?"

"We don't have the Diary. We need to get it from the Weasley Girl. We need to get it from her quickly."

"Do you have a plan?"

"Depends on what house she gets sorted in."

"Really, no sure plan that works no matter what House she is sorted into?"

"I won't bother you with the details, until she gets sorted. But keep your fingers crossed for Gryffindor, because otherwise, we are out of luck, for it will be out of our reach."

"Who do you think the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is?" Hermione asked.

"I know exactly who it is," Draco said.

"Who is it?" Harry asked.

"Lockhart." Draco said unenthusiastically. He might have been confused by Lockhart's modesty at Diagon Alley, but he knew that Lockhart was a tool. It was only a matter of time before Lockhart proved him right.

The trip to Hogwarts was dull and ininspiring. In fact nothing of any sort happened at all, thus none shall be transcribed.

Then it was the Sorting. Draco barely remembered the Sorting Hat's song, as he didn't really listen to this one. It was about describing the four houses, and begging House Unity. Draco drowned it out, as it was always the same old drivel year after year. Draco really didn't pay attention at all, until "Lovegood, Luna" was sorted into Gryffindor. That didn't happen last time. Draco really should pay attention now. And, oddly enough, until the She-Weasel, nobody was sorted into a different house, then:

"Weasley, Ginerva." McGonagall said. Draco paid attention and prayed for Gryffindor, sadly, the Sorting Hat had other ideas.

"Ravenclaw!"

Ravenclaw? Why Ravenclaw? The She-Weasel that Draco remembered wasn't particularly bright or studious. So why Ravenclaw. Then, Draco remembered the Weasel's Sorting. Could it be that in each time line, for every change in Sorting, there has to be an opposite change in Sorting for another person? That could explain why the Weasel was in Slytherin, and it could explain why Lovegood and She-Weasel swapped houses. The only thing it meant was that the Diary was out of reach.

Another thing, why wasn't the Weasel at the feast? There should be a large mass eating the entire table, yet he wasn't here. Then, Draco realized that something must have happened to make the Weasel think that the best option available to him was to fly a car to Hogwarts. Then, the car must have crashed into the Whomping Willow. However, he wouldn't know until the Howler tomorrow. Hopefully the Rat was dinged up pretty good. Thinking of which, Draco should probably get his hands on said rat, and luckily, the Ravenclaw with the tarantula was now a Gryffindor. Then, Lovegood turned towards Draco.

"Don't worry. Sometimes even the greatest of plans falls through."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The nightmares you must see at night, with all that you have seen. How do you stand it?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Yes you do. You just don't want the others to know about it."

There could be a million explanations for what she said. Possibly, she was a seer, more probably, she was completely nutters. Hermione was watching Draco and Luna speak with a look of amusement and slight suspicion. The prefects informed everybody of the new password, which was wattlebird, and then lead the first years to the dormitories. Moments later, Draco and Harry were in the boy's dormitory, and Hermione was in the girl's. Draco now had a problem, attacks were going to happen, and there was nothing he could do about it. Because of this, Draco didn't exactly go to sleep, as he couldn't. His mind was too busy trying to find some way to get into the Ravenclaw common room, to steal the Diary, but it was for naught.

Then, appearing out of nowhere was Draco's least favorite and least helpful person, Nico di Angelo.

"Why is the She-Weasel in Ravenclaw?" asked Draco.

"Because I told the Sorting Hat to place Luna Lovegood in Gryffindor," said Nico

"But I can't get my hands on the Diary now."

"If those attacks don't happen, then Voldemort will live forever."

"But I have no foreknowledge of what Potter did in Second Year. Somehow, I don't know how, he found the Chamber of Secrets. He killed the Monster of Slytherin, don't know what the monster was, nor do I know how Potter killed it. I don't know how Potter investigated the attacks, nor do I know how he figured it out. After all, if Granger figured it out, then why didn't they tell a teacher, or kill it before it attacked Granger. I have absolutely no idea where the Chamber of Secrets is. I know next to nothing about this year."

"So focus on what you do know."

"I know nothing about Second Year, except that the Dark Wanker was furious when he found out that my father allowed the Diary to return to Hogwarts. I know that the Diary was how the Chamber opened. I know that the Diary is in the possession of the She-Weasel. I know that Ravenclaw Tower requires the answering of a riddle to enter the common room, and that I'd need a Ravenclaw female to get the Diary from the She-Weasel. If it were any other house, I might be able to come up with a plan of attack, and get the Diary, but Rowena Ravenclaw was entirely too concerned with security, and it is impossible to get the Diary from Ravenclaw tower."

"What else do you know?"

"I know that nobody died, and they cured the paralysis using a Mandrake Potion. I know that the instructions that they are following are obsolete, as Granger improved the potion back in sixth year. It took six months to brew the Mandrake Potion last time. I know how to brew it in five. It could save lives, and even help me find out what the monster is faster, so we can kill it faster. It would also ensure that my reputation is clean after it is revealed that my father is behind the attacks, thus I would still have influence among the old families."

"Is there anything else you can do this year?"

"I can capture the rat."

"I recommend that you don't do anything beyond capturing the rat. Trap him, but do not give him to the ministry yet."

"Why not? After all, it would shorten Sirius's sentence by one year."

"Yes, but, Fudge must remain Minister."

"But he was incompetent."

"Yes, but look at his replacements, Scrimgeour and Voldemort."

"But we could get Bones in as the Minister."

"But if Bones becomes Minister, the next head of the DMLE is Scrimgeour, seeing as he is currently the Head of the Aurors. Bones and Scrimgeour are most effective where they are. Bones, Fudge, and Scrimgeour could be a powerful triumvirate, effectively blocking Voldemort's war."

"But I remember what Fudge did last time."

"This time will be different, seeing as you know what you must do by that time. Now any questions?"

"You said you asked the Sorting Hat to place Lovegood into Gryffindor. Why?"

"Multiple reasons. First, Luna is gifted. She will make a powerful and most useful ally. Second, because Luna is the one we believe is best suited to be Harry's future wife, and as you know, people tend to marry those in your Hogwarts house."

"So, you were matchmaking?"

"Yes, I was. Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Yes. You said that Luna is gifted. Gifted how?"

"Luna Lovegood sees the truth in all things. Similar to a seer, except more precise and powerful. She sees past, present, future. She sees the truth, and nothing can hide from her sight. Unfortunately, seeing the truth means that she will be rather unpopular with her classmates, as the truth hurts, both her classmates and herself."

"Oh, and why wasn't the Weasel at the feast tonight?"

"You'll see tomorrow."

With that, Nico di Angelo left. For once, a visit from Nico di Angelo didn't leave Draco more confused. In fact, Draco now had a clear sight of what he needed to do. With a clear mind, he took a dreamless potion, and went to sleep. When he woke up, he went to breakfast with Harry. Midway through breakfast, the mail came in. One of the owls went to the Weasel. Then, moments later, he heard a loud screeching noise.

It sounded something like, " **STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE-** "

It was Potion Queen Molly, making an excellent case for the Worst Mother of the Year Award.

" **LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU COULD HAVE DIED. I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED- YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME.** "

Looks like Draco's hunch was right. Something was important about that car. Something that required somebody to crash it into the Whomping Willow. What it was, Draco had no clue, but Draco was willing to bet that it was instrumental in Potter figuring out where the Chamber of Secrets was. What it was, Draco had no clue.

"What mother uses a Howler? It's just telling other Purebloods that you cannot control your household. Especially in a Matriarchal family like the Weasley's. It's telling us that Mrs. Weasley has no better and more private ways of dealing with disgrace. Plus, Weasley has enough problems without the Howler making things worse for him."

"I thought that the Howler was a good move. After all, Weasley could have broken his neck. He could have been killed, or worse for him, expelled. So why was the Howler not necessary?" asked Hermione.

"He's in Slytherin, and stealing the car is a pure Gryffindor move. It's going to be even more impossible to keep his already low standing in Slytherin, especially as the dueling begins tomorrow. He'll be shunned, and ignored. He's going to sink in terms of rank. He'll get the worst House Chores, get the worst bed, and eventually have to prove himself a Slytherin, which he won't do, because he's been raised his entire life that the best way to approach a problem is to hit it as hard as he possibly can, until the problem disappears. Weasley's remaining time at Hogwarts will be miserable and extremely lonely. That Howler only made his situation worse, as now he's the laughing stock of Slytherin. It's a shame he will never lose. I actually feel sorry for him."

"Wait, did you say dueling?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you see, on the second day of the term, you duel to find your place in the Slytherin hierarchy. You duel until you lose, and if you don't lose, you become King of Slytherin. Currently the King of Slytherin is Daphne Greengrass. It is essential that she remain the King of Slytherin."

With that Draco ate his breakfast and walked to Herbology with Harry and Hermione. They just so happened to have a run in with Lockhart. Unfortunately, this run in happened to leave Draco even more confused than the previous time line had. Lockhart and Professor Sprout were both currently doctoring the Whomping Willow.

"Marvelous plant, the Whomping Willow. Thank you for teaching me how to doctor it," Lockhart said.

"Thank you for asking."

"I have a motto, never waste an opportunity to learn something new. One day, it could mean the difference between life and death."

Then, Lockhart turned and saw the second year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs.

"Oh, students! I won't hold your Herbology Professor for long. She was teaching me how to doctor a Whomping Willow. I've never seen one, but I might one day, and I might need to know how to properly doctor it. Remember students, never waste an opportunity to learn something. Never. The second you stop learning is the second your brain starts to die."

On that happy note, Lockhart walked away, leaving Draco even more confused than ever.

"Greenhouse three youngsters," said Sprout. Draco could tell that Harry and Hermione were excited to finally be leaving Greenhouse One. Draco couldn't wait until Greenhouse Seven reserved for NEWT students and Professors. However, if his memory served correctly, today they would be working with the Mandrakes.

Professor Sprout had them stand next to Mandrakes.

"Today we'll be repotting Mandrakes. Now, who can tell me the properties of a Mandrake?" Professor Sprout asked.

To absolutely nobody's surprise, Hermione's hand went into the air a couple milliseconds before Draco's did. Again to absolutely nobody's surprise, as soon as Draco realized that Hermione beat him to the hand raising, Draco lowered his hand.

"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," Hermione said. She often sounded like she swallowed the textbook. However, she was correct as usual. "It can be used to restore people who have been cursed or transfigured to their natural state."

And it would be most useful this year with those damn attacks that Draco could do nothing to prevent.

"Ten points to Gryffindor. The Mandrake is used in most antidotes. It is also, however dangerous. Who can tell me why?"

Once again, Hermione beat Draco by milliseconds. Once again, Draco lowered his hand, and allowed Hermione the answer.

"The cry of a Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it." she said again.

"Precisely, another ten points to Gryffindor," Sprout said again. "Now the Mandrakes we have here are still very young." She had them line up at the Mandrakes. "Everybody take a pair of earmuffs."

Everybody scrambled for a pair of earmuffs.

"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered. Earmuffs on."

They put the earmuffs on, and everything was silent, as Sprout removed the Mandrake, and put the Mandrake in a new pot, and then covered it with dirt. Soon, she gave them a thumbs up. She took off her own earmuffs along with them.

"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet, but they will knock you out for several hours and I'm sure nobody wants to miss your first day back. Make sure your earmuffs are securely in place. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up. Now, four to a tray. There is a large supply of pots there. Compost in the sacks over there. Be careful of the Venomous Tentacula, it's teething."

Draco immediately placed his earmuffs back on. Harry, Draco, and Hermione were joined at their tray by Justin Finch-Fletchley, a Muggleborn who'd been attacked in the previous attacks. Draco remembered every attack. He remembered every name. Miss Norris, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Colin Somebody, Nearly Headless Nick, Penelope Clearwater, and Granger. He must not allow this to happen again.

They repotted all the Mandrakes, and Draco was amused to see that he was the first one to repot them all, as the Mandrakes didn't want to come out of the ground. The Mandrakes really didn't want to go back into it either. They kicked, and flailed, and gnashed their teeth, and cried a river. Draco chuckled when Harry spent ten minutes trying to squash a fat one into a pot.'

At the end of the lesson, everybody was sweaty, aching, and covered in dirt. Draco, less so, but only because he finished his work first. As soon as they left class, they began to hurry to Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws. Professor McGonagall's classes were always fun, as Draco already knew how to do all this stuff. He always waited until after Hermione completed the assignment before completing it himself. Harry seemed to be unable to turn the beetle into a button, and instead seemed intent to give the beetle a lot of exercise.

Then, it was lunch, where Harry was in a foul mood, as it seemed to Harry that everything he learned last year just leaked out of his brain during the summer. This, it did not amuse Harry one bit when Draco and Hermione both had a large collection of perfect coat buttons.

"What do we have next?" Harry asked.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts." Hermione said immediately. Draco noticed that Hermione had all of Lockhart's classes outlined in hearts. It was a little fact that annoyed him slightly, especially considering that he knew that Lockhart was a twat. Oh well, Hermione would be in for a rude awakening later on.

They finished their lunch, and went outside to the overcast courtyard, where Hermione began reading _Battling the Darkness_ again. Harry and Draco started to talk about Quidditch, when Draco noticed that Colin Somebody was watching Harry intently.

"Can Harry help you with something?" Draco asked Colin.

"I'm Colin Creevy. I'm in Gryffindor too. I heard about how you survived when the You-Know-Who tried to kill you, and he disappeared and everything."

"Like how he is famous because his parents are dead and he is not."

"Sorry. It's amazing here though, isn't it. I never knew that all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My father is a milkman, so he didn't believe it at first, until he saw McGonagall turn into a cat. He still barely believes it, so I'm taking loads of pictures and showing them to him."

"Unfortunately, you can't."

"Why not?"

"The Statute of Secrecy. We can't take pictures of magic and show them to muggles. Those muggles might be tempted to show them to other muggles. A single picture of genuine magic could lead to muggles discovering our existence. Believe me, after the last time that muggles discovered our existence, it is better to exist in secret."

With that, Draco managed to avoid a rather more annoying Nott encounter. After all, this time, there would be no signed pictures with Potter, and no Nott impersonating Draco in being an asshole. Then Draco, Harry, and Hermione went to Defense Against the Dark Arts, and once again, Draco was asking himself what the hell was going on.

Why was he asking himself that? Because this class was nothing like the joke that he remembered. For one, it had Gryffindors and Slytherins together, a feat that usually, only Professor Snape attempted to do, thanks to bitter house rivalries between the two houses. Second, because of Lockhart.

"Many people in this class are asking themselves what they are going to learn with me as their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Many others ask themselves whether I will be talking about my own voyages. The answer is no. We are not here to discuss me. We are here to talk about Dark and Dangerous forces, that can be fought against. Now tell me, what was Voldemort's signature spell?"

That was the first indication that Lockhart was very different than he was in the original time line. After all, only those who were brave enough, and skilled enough dared call the Dark Wanker by his name.

Then, Draco raised his hand.

"Ah, yes. Mr. Malfoy. What is it?"

"Avada Kedavra, unless you were his follower, in which case it was Crucio."

"Correct Mr. Malfoy. The Avada Kedavra. The killing curse. If you are hit, you are dead. It will destroy shields. It will kill anything. All you have to do is want it enough. That is what is so terrifying about it. I hope none of you shall ever face this terrible curse, but should you have to, I want to make sure you are prepared for it. Now who can tell me the best way to combat the Avada Kedavra?"

Once again, Draco was the only person to raise his hand.

"The only way to combat the Avada Kedavra that I know of is to not be there in the first place."

"Correctamundo, a word I have never used before and will never use again. Come on! Is Mr. Malfoy going to be the only person to answer any questions at all in my class? If he is, then this is going to be a very boring class to teach. Now, I have a quick quiz for you to answer. Don't worry, you more than anybody else already know all the answers. Do answer them as honestly as possible, for otherwise, this quiz will be useless. Because of this, I shall give you thirty minutes."

Draco expected the questions to be all about Lockhart. Draco couldn't be more wrong.

"Your thirty minutes begins now." Lockhart said.

Draco turned his head to his paper, and thought, what the fuck? This is what he read.

 _1\. What is your favorite color?_

 _2\. What is your ambition?_

 _3\. What, in your opinion, is your greatest achievement to date?_

 _4\. What do you hope to learn in Defense Against the Dark Arts this year._

It went on like that, until...

 _54\. What is your birthday, and what would your ideal gift be?_

Half an hour later, Lockhart picked up all the papers.

"Thank you for answering those. They'll be a big help in my aims to know my students. I believe that you cannot truly teach someone, unless you know them personally. Now, to business."

Then, Lockhart bend down behind his desk, and lifted a large covered cage onto it.

"I think this is a bit too easy for someone of your skill level, but the ministry insists that you learn how to deal with them, and I have to follow the Ministry regulations. Hopefully, we can keep this as fun and educational as possible."

Then, Lockhart removed the cover.

"Cornish Pixies. Devilishly tricky little blighters. Clever, but at the same time, their magic isn't powerful, and they are easily distracted."

Then, Seamus laughed.

"They aren't very dangerous are they?" Seamus asked laughing.

"Of course not. But it is not my job to put you before dangerous creatures. That's for next year. This year, I will be teaching you practical uses for the theory you should have been taught last year by a Professor Quirrell. Now, who can tell me what the strengths of a Cornish Pixie are?"

This time, Hermione raised her hand.

"Finally, Miss Granger. What are the strengths of a Cornish Pixie?"

"They can fly. They are extremely clever, and tricky. Cornish Pixies are harmless in small groups, but in large groups, they mean trouble to whichever poor wizard encounters them."

"Now what are the weaknesses of a Cornish Pixie?"

"They don't like heat, and they are easily immobilized."

"Top notch Miss Granger. 10 Points for Gryffindor. Yes, Mr. Finnigan?"

"Why didn't you award Draco points for his answers?"

"Because I heard about Draco's little speech at the end of last year. I know that he has no wish to earn House Points, and I have no problem with not awarding them. However, I also have no problem taking them away from Draco, so it seems to balance out doesn't it? Now back to the Cornish Pixies. I find that you can't really learn magic by reading a book. You have to perform it. It is time for a little hands on experience. So, let's see what you make of them."

Then, Lockhart released the Cornish Pixies, and it was pandemonium. Two managed to hang Neville to a chandelier, a few managed to break the window, and shower the back row with glass, and the third row with glass. The rest managed to destroy the classroom more effectively than an angry hippogriff. They graffitied the classroom with ink. They tore pictures off the wall, they otherwise made a fool of them. Lockhart was grinning at them. Then he pulled out his wand, and bellowed, " _Immobulus_." All the pixies froze, and fell to the ground.

"That did not go as I expected. Not one person thought of the way to stop the pixies? Miss Granger told you how to stop the Cornish Pixies. Now, to handle Mr. Longbottom."

Then, Lockhart walked onto a desk, pointed his wand at it, and said, " _Wingardium Leviosa."_

The desk flew into the air, with Lockhart on it. He pulled Neville off the chandelier, and gently lowered the desk to the ground.

"Now, homework. I want a three page essay on how to capture and properly dispose of Cornish Pixies. Now leave."

They started to leave, when Lockhart's voice rose again.

"Not you Mr. Malfoy. I want to have a word with you."

Draco stayed behind, when Lockhart looked at him.

"You are a curious person."

"What's so curious about me?"

"The fact that you know how to deal with Cornish Pixies, but you did nothing to stop them."

"What makes you say that?"

"Gut instinct. During the War with Voldemort, I learned to trust my gut. Hasn't let me down yet, and I very much doubt it will. From what I've witnessed this in this class period, you and Miss Granger appear to be years ahead of your classmates. Tell me if I start to bore you. I might give you written permission to access to the restricted section."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"If you really did all the things in your books, you'd never let a Malfoy into the restricted section."

"I'm not. I'm giving a young man with a lot of potential access to the restricted section, should he ever ask for it, as long as he doesn't abuse said access. Now, get out of here, I have tests to read."


	4. Mudbloods and Slug Vomiting

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. There I said it. Are you happy? You're not? Good, neither am I.

A/N:

Chapter Four: Mudbloods and Slug Vomiting

The week passed by, and no attacks as of yet. Draco expected that, as he knew for a fact that nobody got attacked until Halloween. However, he also expected to get some plan to snatch the Diary from the She-Weasel. Unfortunately, all the cunning in the world could not make it happen. Additionally, Creevy seemed to have Harry's schedule memorized, and nothing seemed to give Creevy a bigger thrill than to hear Harry say, "Hello Colin," no matter how exasperated Harry was when he said it. Creevy was obviously a bit of a fan-boy. Not exactly the kind of person Draco wanted following Harry, but he supposed it was better than Death Eaters.

Then, came the night when Harry was shaken out of bed by Oliver Wood, the captain of the Quidditch team. Draco wouldn't be going with them as he was the reserve Seeker. Oliver woke Harry up at the crack of dawn and dragged them out to train for Quidditch. Then, Draco knocked on the girl's dormitory. Hermione walked out.

"What is it?"

"We've got to go, now."

"Why?"

"Harry's about to have a problem."

"What problem is that?"

"If we don't show up, possibly a fight."

"What makes you say that?"

"The Gryffindor Quidditch team is going to their practice now."

"So?"

"The King of Slytherin personally informed me that Slytherin got special permission from Professor Snape to train their team now."

"On what grounds?"

"To train their new Seeker."

"New Seeker?"

"Theodore Nott."

"We've got to go now."

When Draco and Hermione made it to the Quidditch Pitch, the team was still in the locker rooms, and Draco and Hermione sat in the stands. Then, the Gryffindor team started to fly. Luckily Creevy wasn't there. Sadly, the Slytherins were there, just like his extremely reliable source informed him they would be.

"We have a problem Oliver," said Fred.

"What is that?" Wood asked.

"The Slytherins are here." Fred said.

"What?!" Oliver exclaimed furiously. Oliver then turned to the direction Fred was pointing at.

"I don't believe this. I booked the field for today. We'll see about this." Oliver hissed in absolute outrage. It was about to get even worse. Especially when the new Seeker said his bit.

Oliver shot to the ground, landing hard, and he staggered slightly as he dismounted. Harry, Fred, and George followed, with Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, and Katie Bell shortly behind them. The Gryffindor Quidditch Team, a united front.

"Flint!" Wood bellowed at a disgrace to Slytherin Quidditch. "This is our practice time! We got up specially. You can clear out now."

"Plenty of room for all of us Wood."

"But I booked the field. I booked it!"

"Ah, but I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. ' _I Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker."_

"You've got a new Seeker? Where?" asked Wood.

From behind the large figures of the Slytherin team, came Theodore Nott. The fun has just arrived, and Draco realized that he made a mistake. He hoped that Hermione would be spared from ever being called a Mudblood, but he forgot that the first time he'd called Granger a Mudblood was during his first Quidditch practice with his new team.

"Aren't you Jonathon Nott's son?" asked George Weasley.

"Funny you should mention his father, look what he gave us," said Flint, as the entire team held out their brooms. They were all Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. The best racing brooms in the world, or at least they would be until next year. "Very latest model. Only came out last month. I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps, sweeps the board with them. Oh, look field invasion."

Draco and Hermione caught up to Quidditch team.

"Nice brooms. Your father bought them for the entire Slytherin team?"

"Of course. But then, my father believes in respectability, honor, and victory."

"Really, is that what we're calling what our fathers did in the war?"

"Lovely brooms aren't they? Perhaps the Gryffindor team could raise some gold and get new brooms to. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives, I expect a museum would bid for them."

The Slytherin team howled in laughter.

"At least nobody in Gryffindor had to buy their way in," Hermione said. "They got in on pure talent."

"No one asked for your opinion, you filthy Mudblood," Nott spat.

As Draco expected, Flint went in front of Nott to stop the Weasley twins from jumping him. Alicia screamed, "How dare you!" And Draco walked directly in front of Flint/Nott.

"She's purer than the two of us combined Nott," Draco said.

"So, you've decided to come out of the closet as a Blood Traitor then."

"And proud of it, you inbred piece of horseshit."

With that, Draco started to walk away, when Nott raised his wand to Draco. Next thing he knew, he felt a quick brush of pain, and he was vomiting slugs. Quickly, Harry and Hermione took him to Hagrid. However, before they could get there, they noticed Lockhart and Hagrid talking animatedly about Fluffy the Cerberus. Eventually, Lockhart walked away. Then, Harry and Hermione walked to Hagrid. Hagrid didn't seem very perturbed by the slug problem, but Draco was absolutely miserable.

"Better out than in, Draco. Get 'em all up." Hagrid said cheerfully, plucking a large copper basin in front of them.

"I can't think of anything to do, but wait for it to stop."

"I can," said Draco.

Then, Draco pointed his wand at himself, and nonverbally, stopped the spell.

"That's better," Draco said.

"Now that you aren't vomiting slugs, tell me what the bloody hell that was about!" Harry said.

"I really hoped you'd never see that side of Wizarding Society, or more specifically, Pureblood Society."

"But what is a Mudblood? I've never ran across it in any books."

"Where did yeh hear that word?" Hagrid asked.

"Nott decided to call Hermione a Mudblood. As for why it's not in any of your books, well, it wouldn't be in any books, unless you found a book about Pureblood insults. The word Mudblood is reserved only for Muggleborns. Means dirty blood. Filthy blood. Common blood. You see, there are some wizarding families, like Nott's family, like mine, who think they are better than everyone else, because they can trace their lineage for a really long time and only encounter wizards. Some occupy the Wizengambot, some hold higher up jobs in the Ministry, some are like my father and Nott's father. Now their children spend their entire lives being taught that they are better than everybody else. I spent my entire life being taught that I am better than you. Took me a while to realize that my father was just a prejudiced inbred piece of hippogriff shit. Unfortunately, Nott will never realize that his father is just as full of shit as my father. Don't pay attention to it, as it wouldn't be worth it."

The left Hagrid's hut after Draco stopped vomiting slugs. Later on Draco learned that vomiting slugs was a common illness that day, as the Weasel also vomited slugs. Apparently, Nott called the Weasel a blood traitor, and the Weasel tried hexing Nott, only for his busted wand to make his spell backfire.

Later on that night, they went to bed. Little did Draco or Harry suspect that the other hadn't slept a wink. Surely that was just coincidence, right?


	5. The First Attack

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N:

Chapter Five: The First Attack

October arrive soon after the term began, and nobody was looking forward to Halloween less than Draco was. Draco'd tried everything possible to steal the Diary from the She-Weasel, but to his disgust, it never left the completely secure Ravenclaw tower. He'd have to answer a riddle, which he sucked at. Oh, and it gets better, for the riddle changes every time, and in nine hundred years, the riddles have never repeated, except when a student got it wrong, in which case another student soon got it right. Then, assuming he got into the common room, which he wouldn't be able to, he'd have to sneak into the girls dormitory, the location of which were unknown to him, locate the first years girls, and steal the Diary, all before the She-Weasel noticed that something was up. It was impossible. Thus, the attacks would be happening this year, and there was nothing he could do about it, other than try to save each individual victim.

Harry would disappear for long periods of time, because Oliver Wood would steal his favorite Seeker for Quidditch practices at early, late, and any hours of the day. Those training sessions were so regular, and so long, that it was more common for Harry to be at Quidditch practice than hanging out with his best friends. Thus, Draco's typical three person army against the darkness was limited to two people. Hermione was hardly better with her constantly tearing his desperate plans to steal the Diary from the She-Weasel to shreds. She also spent most of her time doing homework, homework that Draco finished early. Homework that was well written and completely correct, so he could go about trying to figure out how to steal the Diary.

Daphne Greengrass reported that she had taken control of the Slytherins, though Nott was still causing problems for her. She also reported that she had a surprising second-in-command, the Weasel, maybe Slytherin is doing that Weasel some good. Nott was temporarily a non-factor, though he'd be causing trouble for the Golden Trio later on.

Luna Lovegood was still being enigmatic. Draco had no idea what to make of her, or her ability to see the truth. Especially since she seemed to speak in riddles and made up monsters. However, Potter was fond of her, and she was a big player in the previous time line, so Draco kept up the effort to incorporate her into the group, though Draco suspected he wouldn't have much success until fifth year.

Weatherby was being his usual annoying, pompous self, but Draco respected it, even if he didn't respect Weatherby. Draco was working on Weatherby's worship of authority figures, but he knew that he wouldn't be making any progress. Weatherby would be the only Weasel to oppose Dumbledore later on, and that would make him a problem. Problems would have to be dealt with.

Draco started to befriend the people he knew would be attacked, except Mrs. Norris. He regularly had to restrain his urge to give her a sharp kick. One of these days, he'd do it, but not today. Not this year. Not next year, but someday, when nobody was suspecting it, Mrs. Norris would learn how to fly.

Operation Rat was going smoothly. Draco had an unbreakable glass jar that would adjust its size when an animagus tried to change their shape. Just try to get out of that trap Pettigrew. Now, all he needed was a distraction so he'd be able to get his hands on the Rat. He could always get into the Slytherin common room. After all, the password was always related to Blood Purity. There were only fifty potential passwords, and Draco could safely deduce one of them, then he could get the rat that way, but Pettigrew reported in the previous time line that the Weasel didn't lock him in a cage. That meant that Pettigrew could go anywhere in the entire castle, and Draco didn't have a way to narrow the rat's exact location. No, the Pet Check is a much smarter idea. All he needed to do is convince Luna to let him borrow her tarantula. He'd try it the day after Mrs. Norris was attacked.

So, a few days before Halloween, Harry walked into the Gryffindor common room, and slumped into a chair. Draco walked into another chair, and faced Harry. Hermione in a chair between the two of them.

"Talk."

"I'm sorry."

"Now I know it can't be good. What did you do?"

"I told Nick that we'd be at his Deathday Party."

"Dear god. You do realize that there's no food at a Deathday Party. Because only Ghosts go to Deathday parties."

"I bet not many living people can claim they've been to one. It'll be fascinating." Hermione said.

"Fascinating until you realize that there's no food."

"What?"

"They're ghosts. They don't eat."

"We'll eat after the party."

"Fine. But you owe me one."

By the time Halloween arrived, Draco made sure that Harry regretted his rash decision to accept Nick's Deathday Party Invitation. Draco wasn't happy either. The decorations in the hall looked brilliant, and there were rumours of a troupe of Dancing Skeletons having been booked for entertainment. Draco knew that the rumours were true, and he tried to convince Harry and Hermione that the feast would be a much more enjoyable experience, but Hermione kept attacking Harry's guilty conscience.

"A promise is a promise," Hermione said. "You said you'd go to the Deathday party."

So, at seven o'clock, Harry, Draco, and Hermione went to the Deathday party, where they immediately regretted it. The first thing that they noticed was that there was food on the tables, but it was all moldy, and rotten. Not suitable for eating. Second was the candles lowered the temperature dramatically. Third, was the ghosts that showed up in the first place. While Draco had a soft spot for Nick, the Baron, and Myrtle, the others, Draco had no liking for. He wanted to be back with the living.

Luckily, Draco eventually convinced Harry and Hermione that now that they'd shown up, it was time for them to leave. Half way out, however, Harry heard something. Draco didn't hear it, and neither did Hermione, but Harry heard it.

"That voice," Harry said.

"What voice?" asked Hermione.

"It's the same murderous voice I heard on the first night," Harry replied.

"You never said anything about a murderous voice," said Draco

"I thought that I imagined it, but this is the second time I've heard it," Harry said.

"What's it saying?" asked Draco. Draco had a sinking feeling that what Harry was hearing was the monster of Slytherin. If it was, then it answered a few unanswered questions, like what was Potter doing when Mrs. Norris was attacked.

"Rip tear kill."

"Oh, definitely a murderous voice."

"Shut up a moment, I'm trying to listen. So hungry, so long."

Harry walked closer to the wall, following the sound.

"Kill time to kill. I smell blood. IT'S GOING TO KILL SOMEONE!"

Then, Harry began to run towards the sound, and when he stopped, he saw, Mrs. Norris strung up, with the words THE CHAMBER HAS BEEN OPENED, ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE written on the wall in blood. Mrs. Norris had been attacked and petrified. It had begun. The Chamber of Secrets had been opened.

"The Chamber has been opened? Damn it."

"Surely it's a coincidence?"

"It's no coincidence. It's happening."

Then, the other students arrived. They were quiet, then, Nott's voice rang out.

"Enemies of the heir beware! You'll be next Mudbloods! The Chamber of Secrets is opened."


	6. Finding The Truth

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N:

Chapter Six: Finding the Truth

"What is going on here? What's going on?"

Attracted to Nott's shout, Filch pushed his way to the crowd and fell back in horror when he saw the fate of his familiar.

"My cat! My cat! What happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked. Then, his eyes shifted to Harry. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you."

"Argus!" Professor Dumbledore thundered dramatically. Finally, some results might come about.

"Come with me Argus, you too Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, and Mrs. Granger."

"My office is nearest Headmaster. Perhaps we should use that. After all, if my theory is true, it's imperative that we find out the truth as fast as possible."

"Thank you Gilderoy."

The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Harry, Draco, and Hermione entered Lockhart's office. Lockhart's office was bare. It had many large books, all on defensive. It had guides to every monster that you could think of, and objects from various people. Obviously gifts given to him by fans and such. It didn't have a single picture of himself anywhere, instead there were pictures of other people.

"What's up with the pictures?" Draco asked. Now probably wasn't the best time, but he wanted to know.

"Those are all the people I have failed to save," Lockhart said. "Forgotten by history, but not by me."

Dumbledore lay Mrs. Norris on Lockhart's desk, and started to examine her.

"I don't know why the examination is necessary! She's dead and that boy killed her!" said Filch.

"She's not dead is she Headmaster?" Draco asked.

"No, she is not. Just petrified. But how I cannot say," Dumbledore said.

"Neither can I," Draco said. "Though I have a few working theories. It's only been one attack. Not enough information."

"Ask him!" Filch shrieked pointing at Harry.

"No second year could do this. It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced-"

"He did it, he did it! You saw what he wrote on the wall! He found in my office he knows I'm a Squib!" he finished. Draco thought that was common knowledge. Besides, Squibs aren't enemies of the Heir of Slytherin. Muggleborns are.

"I never touched Mrs. Norris!" Harry shouted. "I don't even know what a Squib is!"

"Rubbish, he saw my Kwikspell letters!"

"Everybody knows you're a Squib, Filch. It hardly makes Harry the Heir of Slytherin."

"What?" asked McGonagall.

"If I might speak, Headmaster," said Professor Snape. "Potter and his friends may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but we have some suspicious circumstances before us. Why was Potter in the upstairs corridor in the first place? Why wasn't he at the feast?"

"Because Harry made a rash promise to a ghost to attend a Deathday Party. There were hundreds of ghosts. Any one of them would tell you we were there," Draco said.

"But why not join the feast afterwards? Why go up that corridor?"

"Because Halloween is the anniversary of the day James and Lily Potter died. He didn't feel like celebrating, and we didn't think it a good idea to leave Harry alone. We were going to go to the kitchens to eat a little and go to bed. Better than acting like the deaths of the Potters is all good fun," Draco said.

There, something that cannot be disproved, and was believable. Not even Severus would dare claim that he was lying. After all, what boy would celebrate the day he'd become an orphan? Nobody. Well, Draco would, but Draco has issues.

"Now, Professor Sprout has obtained some Mandrakes. I suggest that we make some Mandrake potion, in excess, in case there is some truth to the writing on the wall. You know, the chamber is open, enemies of the heir beware, So melodramatic. Reminds me of someone, if only I could think of who."

"Now, everybody leave Draco and myself alone. Professor Lockhart, I turn the investigation over to you."

"Brilliant. I come here for some peace and quiet, and what do I get? A dark force attacking students. Must be a Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays. I will find the culprit, I give you my word."

With that, Lockhart, Snape, McGonagall, Filch, Harry, and Hermione all walked out. Though, Draco was unaware of it, Harry and Hermione decided to eavesdrop. What they heard blew their minds.

"I don't understand Draco. The Heir of Slytherin isn't here. He left Hogwarts fifty years ago, and he didn't have any children."

"Except, he gave my father a Diary. My father slipped it into a Student's bag. This Diary is charmed to open the Chamber of Secrets. Unfortunately, the attacks are fixed points in time. Or at least the chamber opening is. I cannot stop the events if I tried. Hell, the Sorting Hat sorted the student into a different House so I wouldn't be able to steal the Diary from her. The Chamber of Secrets is open, and I have no idea where it is, nor do I have any idea what the Monster of Slytherin is, though rumours say that Potter killed it in the previous time line."

"On to another matter, Operation Rat. Have you started it yet?"

"I've got a container that will hold him. He will not escape this time. He will not restore the Dark Wanker's body. Sirius Black will not spend the last days of his life as a fugitive. I promise you that."

"So, when do we move to phase three of Operation Rat?"

"Tomorrow, assuming that Luna allows me to borrow her spider."

"Fantastic. Justice will be served."

"Justice. That is why not why I'm doing this."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Initially, because I didn't want to stay dead."

"By now?"

"Now, I've got something to fight for. I've got a reason to want the Dark Wanker dead. And I'm sorry, but for me, the war's already begun. I won't be showing mercy towards our enemies, because they don't have any mercy for us."

"I understand. I wish you'd give them a second chance."

"They've already had their second chance. I'm not giving them a third."

"Very well, but at least try to show some restraint."

"I am showing restraint. They aren't all dead yet."

"So, why was Harry really in that corridor at night?"

"He heard what I can only assume is the Monster of Slytherin, and decided to try to save the victim. Personally, I would have left Mrs. Norris to rot, but that is the advantage of knowing who the victims are ahead of time. I can choose whether or not to care about them."

"You should probably go to bed. After all, you have a lot of work to do."

"Of course Professor."

With that, Draco walked out, and saw to his astonishment, Harry and Hermione had been eavesdropping.

"What did you hear?"

"We must have misheard, after all, it's against the laws of science and the laws of magic." said Hermione.

"You heard about the Time Travel didn't you?"

"Yes." Hermione once again said.

"Damn." replied Draco.

"So it's true. You're from the future," Harry said.

"Yes, but it's purely top secret. You shouldn't even know, probably a breach of contract."

"If you are from the future, what do we do next?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea. I wasn't Potter's friend last time around. I was much more similar to Nott."

"Why did you just call me Potter?" Harry asked.

"I didn't. I referred to the Harry Potter of the original time line as Potter. After all, he was the definitive Gryffindor, courage, valor, no problem existed that couldn't be defeated by bashing your head against it until it went away. Probably due to the Weasel's influence."

"What?"

"In the original time line, the Golden Trio was Granger, Potter, and the Weasel. You don't want to know. Actually, you really don't want to know what happened in the original time line anyways. Partly because I wasn't in the middle of it, and partly because it seems to be changing, and it's getting ready to change more due to Lesswrong's First Law of Fanfiction."

"What?"

"Apparently, the powers below aren't allowed to give one side an advantage without giving the other side either the same advantage or a greater and/or possibly scarier advantage."

"You really are from the future aren't you?"

"And I have an annoying case manager who's allergic to giving straight answers."

"A what?"

"He just appears and gives me advice. Which reminds me, there is something I forgot to ask him regarding Lockhart. I'm surprised you're so accepting of the Time Travel Hermione."

"It does explain a few things."

"What does it explain in your eyes?"

"The advanced magic you perform. The nonverbal magic you perform. Why nothing seems to phase you," Hermione said.

"How you knew the truth about Quirrell, and never even considered Snape as the culprit," said Harry.

"Well, yeah. In the original timeline, Quirrell was found burned to death in the third floor corridor. Rumors flew about, and a few years later, the Dark Wanker told his Death Munchers about his attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone. Barely half a deduction. And as for Snape, Dumbledore made me promise not to tell anybody what I know about that mind fuck."

"Quick question. What's a Squib?" Harry asked.

"That's what you want to know? A Squib is somebody descended from Wizards who doesn't have magic. Kind of the opposite of a Muggleborn. Let's go to bed. If we're lucky, we'll get a visit from the biggest asshole in the afterlife."

With that Draco walked away, leaving a confused Harry and Hermione behind.

The next few day, people could talk of little else but the attack on Mrs. Norris. Filch kept it fresh on everybody's mind by being an even more miserable tyrant than usual, trying to give detentions for ridiculous things like "breathing too loudly" or "Looking too happy."

Filch wasn't the only person acting differently than usual. The She-Weasel looked paler than usual. Draco suspect that was because she had no memory of the events leading up to the attack. Sign of possession. Not friendly, but then, the Dark Lord wasn't very well known for friendliness.

Lockhart was also acting differently. Lockhart insisted on interviewing every student personally, starting with the seventh years, and going down to the first years. He was running the investigation very efficiently, but unfortunately, he was acting on the belief that only a seventh year or a teacher could do something like that.

Even Hermione was acting differently, she was spending all her free time in the library. Probably wasting time trying to find out what the Chamber of Secrets is, even though she could just ask Draco. Oddly enough, Harry wasn't asking him about the Chamber either. It was odd, but Draco didn't have time to ponder it. He needed Luna Lovegood to give him her tarantula for a day. It shouldn't be too hard. After all, she saw the truth. She'd see that it was necessary, for the Greater Good, if you will.

"No." Luna said.

"Come on. You'll get it right back."

"Not going to happen."

"Please."

"No. Weasley will kill my tarantula."

"This is about freeing an innocent man from Azkaban. If I succeed, the Dark Wanker has one less person to revive him."

"Absolutely not."

"What do I have to do for you to give me your tarantula?"

"I can demand anything?"

"Anything. I'm desperate! It has to be now, otherwise, Operation Rat will be a failure."

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

"Please, it's for the Greater Good."

"The Greater Good? Do you even realize how you sound right now?"

"Yes, yes I do."

"Do you truly believe that Operation Rat is essential to the survival of this world?"

"Yes."

"Take him. But you'll owe me a new tarantula."

"Deal."

Luna left, and a few moments later, she came back down with her tarantula. Draco felt a pang of guilt, which he quickly dismissed. Operation Rat was a go. He had the tarantula. Soon, Dumbledore would get him the rat. It was time to get to work.


	7. Operation Rat

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N:

Chapter Seven: Operation Rat

Defense Against the Dark Arts would take place after lunch, and everything had to go exactly as he planned. First, he had to inform Daphne Greengrass that Phase Three of Clear Sirius' Name was a go. Then, he had to write a letter to Rita Skeeter, telling her that soon, it would be time to send the article to Amelia Bones and Cornelius Fudge. Third, he had to get the rat. The letter could come later, but now, he had to get approval from Daphne to go through with his plan, as it would cause a certain Slytherin nightmares for a week.

Hermione was still spending all her time in the library, which Draco admired, he just wished that she'd spend more time trying to find out what the Monster of Slytherin was, rather than trying to find out what the Chamber of Secrets is. However, that was not a priority at the moment, as the next attack wouldn't happen for a couple weeks. Colin Creevy, devoted Harry Potter fan, would be petrified soon, and again, there was nothing Draco could do about it. Sometimes, Draco really hated time travel, as it made him feel kind of helpless. Then, he'd remember why he was here in the first place, to save lives. Besides, nobody died in the previous time line, so he wasn't too worried. Not really.

Harry was a little weirded out by the realization that Draco was a time traveler, but he was handling it better than could be expected. That was to be expected when you realize that your best friend is mentally seven years older than you are, even if physically, they are around the same age. Luckily, Harry wasn't asking too many questions about the previous time line, but then again, Draco figured that Harry really didn't want to know about the future.

But, it was lunch, and Draco had to slip a note to Daphne, as it could not be a known fact that the King of Slytherin is in cohorts with a Gryffindor. Sure, most Slytherins weren't blood purists, but the ones who were would not tolerate the King working with a blood traitor, let alone a Gryffindor blood traitor. If a blood purist found out that Daphne was working with Draco, Daphne's life would be in danger, and that is really not what Draco had in mind for the future. So, that is why, instead of talking to Daphne, he collided his shoulder into hers and subtly slipped her a note. Mission accomplished, and hopefully, nobody noticed anything.

After all, Draco had been very careful not to let anybody know of their alliance. Of his year mates, the only ones in a position to figure anything out, all seemed to be gracefully kept unaware. Crabbe and Goyle were too stupid to figure anything out, Nott was avoided at all costs, Blaise Zabini didn't really care about House Loyalties, and the Weasel was a fellow blood traitor with family in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Tracy Davis was loyal to Daphne Greengrass no matter what, and she wasn't even a blood purist, nor did she have any problems with Gryffindor, Millicent Bulstrode wasn't very cunning, nor did she ever choose sides, Arianna Thawne was above house loyalties, and Pansy Parkinson was too stupid to put together the pieces that Draco had mistakenly given her, so luckily, Daphne's alliance with Draco was still a well kept secret.

However, it was time to put Operation Rat into action. Not the most creative plan, but then again, the most successful plans often lacked creativity or complexity. Everything depended on the Weasel acting like his usual predictable self.

After lunch, it was time for Lockhart's class.

"How much do you know about the man you know as Voldemort?"

That was how Lockhart began the lesson. Asking about Voldemort. Fantastic. The truth was, Draco didn't know very much about the Dark Wanker. He wasn't very close to the Dark Wanker in the previous timeline, nobody was, except maybe his Aunt Bellatrix, and even she didn't know very much. Draco suspected that the only person in the world to know the Dark Wanker's full history would be the Dark Wanker himself.

"The man known as Voldemort first appeared as a member of Grindelwald's army, where he committed many atrocities. So many that Grindelwald cast him out of his inner circle for being too radical. Many hypothesize that it was this rejection from Grindelwald that actually drove Voldemort to join Dumbledore for a while in the war against Grindelwald. According to several first hand accounts, Voldemort intended to kill both Grindelwald and Dumbledore, but his plans failed when Dumbledore beat Grindelwald. Oh, Nott, you have a question?"

"How is this pertinent to the subject of Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Because, it is a known fact that if you know your enemy, you are better equipped to fight him. It is part of my goal to help you know the enemy."

"The Dark Lord is dead though." said Nott.

"Ah, but is he? We never found Voldemort's body. The only person who can truly say what went down on that truly remarkable Halloween, why, that one person is Voldemort. Rule One of my class, never take anything for granted, especially not knowledge. Question everything."

"But what does that have to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Nott asked.

"Everything is Defense Against the Dark Arts. If you take anything away from my class, I hope it's that fact. Everything is Defense Against the Dark Arts. Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Herbology, everything, Defense Against the Dark Arts, which is why I work so hard with the other Professors to make sure this class ties together everything you learned in the other classes, so you'll be equipped to battle the Darkness."

Then, Draco used the Imperius Curse on Luna's tarantula, and let it loose. He needed said tarantula to cross the room unnoticed, so it could climb the Weasel's desk. And it did, then, he made it climb the desk, and crawl onto the Weasel's hand. The Weasel turned pale, and fainted.

"What's wrong with Weasley?" Draco asked loudly, as if he didn't already know. "He just fainted."

"What's that on his hand?" asked Daphne.

"That's Luna Lovegood's tarantula," said Draco.

"Tarantula's aren't authorized pets. With good reason to, people are afraid of spiders," said Daphne.

"I'll take him to Madame Pomfrey," Draco said.

"GO!" said Lockhart.

With that, Draco and Daphne walked the Weasel to Madam Pomphrey.

"What happened to him?"

"He magically fainted."

"I'll have him back in order in a few minutes."

"Good."

Then, Draco and Daphne walked out.

"How was that part of clearing Lord Black's name?" asked Daphne.

"It just so happens I needed a reason for Dumbledore to do a pet check, because Peter Pettigrew is in the Slytherin common room. Unfortunately, Pettigrew was in the Weasel's possession, which would ordinarily make him inaccessible. Also, it is a known fact that the Weasley's can't afford a cage for Pettigrew, so he has full access to the castle. Thankfully, assuming you've been quiet about Operation Rat, details of which you haven't known yet, Pettigrew is unaware of the moves I've made against him. I have agents in place to free Sirius Black soon, and Pettigrew will be taking his place. Now comes the important bit, while the Weasel is out for the count, I need you to take his rat, and place him in this jar. That way, he won't be able to escape what's coming for him."

"Okay. I'm going to trust you, after all, you haven't let me down yet."

"Also, I need a list of your Slytherins. I want to know where their allegiance will fall should the Dark Lord rise tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Because, you owe me a favor."

"Fine. You'll have this list as soon as possible. But then, you'll owe me a favor."

"No problem. Come with me, you'll love this bit."

Draco and Daphne walked the hall, and soon, they were outside Dumbledore's office.

"Cockroach Cluster."

The statue in front of Dumbledore's office opened. Draco and Daphne walked through.

"Where are we?" Daphne asked.

"We are in Dumbledore's office Daphne."

"Why are we here?"

"You are here, Mrs. Greengrass, because you aren't the only person Draco's forged an alliance with."

It was Professor Dumbledore.

"Lemon Drop?"

"What do you mean, you have an alliance with Draco Malfoy?"

"Draco and I have the same goal, and we've decided to work together to achieve this goal. Which reminds me, I have a report that says that a pet tarantula made Ronald Weasley faint in Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"

"Correct."

"I assume that Operation Rat is a go?"

"Yes."

"I shall organize the pet check tomorrow. Mrs. Greengrass, please don't tell the Slytherins about the Pet Check. An innocent life depends on it."

"No problem."

With that, Operation Rat: Phase Three was completed. Now, everything else must go exactly as planned, or else Sirius Black stay in Azkaban, which would mean that Draco would have nowhere to live when he backed Harry instead of his own father.

A/N: Sorry about the anti-climax. I needed to keep Operation Rat Simple enough to be a believable concept. No, it didn't fail. I had good reason for it to work, and that is because, as of yet, nobody is actively working against Draco. Don't worry. Things won't go so well later on down the line. So, read and review.


	8. What Potter Did Last Time

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

A/N: Planet of the Apes reference in here. Try to find it.

Chapter Eight: What Potter Did Last Time

Two days past since Operation Rat Phase Three was successfully launched. Professor Dumbledore and Daphne Greengrass did their parts, and Phase Four was also a complete success, and Peter Pettigrew was now in Draco's possession, which was exactly what Draco had in mind. However, Phase Five had to go down perfectly, as Pettigrew could be given no chance of escaping his grasp.

However, that day, Draco wasn't thinking about Operation Rat. He knew that, momentarily, there was nothing Pettigrew could do in terms of escape. He was more worried about the Chamber of Secrets. He was also worried about Hermione, as she seemed to be spending an ungodly amount of time in the library, instead of asking the resident Time Traveler. Draco was ninety percent certain that she was trying to research more about the Chamber of Secrets. The other ten percent of his mind was certain that she was working on next years homework, and admirable ambition, but not one that Draco shared. Then, Draco realized that, seeing as in this timeline, Hermione already knew what the Chamber of Secrets was, Draco would have to ask about it, so the other students would be able to stand guard, and hopefully keep each other safer. Hopefully, this would prevent extra attacks.

He'd ask the question in Binn's class. After all, that class could use a bit of flavor. Maybe people would stay awake for that class. Draco sure hoped so, for their sakes. You never knew when a bit of history would save your life. It's like Lockhart said. Everything was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Now, a little about the unfortunate bore that was History of Magic, it was taught by a Binns the Ghost. He was the son of a Anti-Goblin bigot, and thus spread Anti-Goblin poison in the classrooms, and most people left his class with no impression of Goblins except that they handled their money and they'd had several revolts throughout the ages. Not true in the slightest, as Goblins have never been under the thumb of Wizards, so a more accurate view of these so-called Goblin Revolts would be the Goblin Wars. However, there was no point pointing this out to Binns, as he doubtlessly knew this. Draco would be taking care of this soon enough.

Today was boring as ever, as Binns was droning on and on about some great Dark Wizard called Ulric the Oddball. Draco already knew Ulrics entire life story after spending quite a bit of his free time in both timelines studying up on Dark Wizards. Draco was also amused to see that many of Binn's supposedly reliable sources were not only third hand sources, but also directly contradicted most of the first hand sources Draco read up on. A fact that would doubtlessly annoy Binns completely should he be aware of it, unless Binns already knew about it. However, if he already knew about it, that could mean that Binns was trying to sabotage their educations. This was something that Draco would have to investigate personally, and either way, take care of, and soon. Today, however was not the day to take care of Binns. No, today was the day to make sure everybody in the entire school, especially the Muggle-Borns, knew about the Chamber of Secrets.

So, while Binns was giving his inaccurate bull, Draco raised his hand. Binns stopped a moment, completely surprised to see somebody's hand raised.

"Yes Mr-er-" Binns said.

"Malfoy. I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?"

"My subject is History of Magic. I deal with facts, not myths and legends," said Binns. Binns was about to continue, when Draco raised his hand.

"Two questions. First question, how can you deal with facts if all of history is subjective, and is written by the victor. Second question, don't all myths and legends have a basis in fact?"

"Well, yes, one could argue that, I suppose." He looked at Draco with a glare. "However, the legend you speak of is such a very _sensational,_ even _ludicrous_ tale."

However, Binns was forced to continue with this, because, for the first time in recorded history, the entire class was not only awake, but hanging on to his every word.

"Oh, very well, Let me see, the Chamber of Secrets. You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago, the precise date is unknown, by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much prosecution.

For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He felt that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serous argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school. Reliable historical sources tell us this much. But these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing.

Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic. The whole thing is nonsense, of course," he said. "Naturally the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, by the most learned witches and wizards. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible."

"Sir, you forget that it has been opened before. Fifty years ago."

"It does not exist! Dumbledore himself has searched the castle and found nothing!"

Then, Hermione raised her hand.

"What did you mean, when you said the horror within?"

"It is believed to be a monster, which only the Heir of Slytherin could control. Now can we please go back to facts? Believable, verifiable, facts?"

With that, he started to quote Ulric the Oddball fanfiction, whatever a fanfiction was, and everybody went to sleep, as there was no such thing was interesting Ulric the Oddball fanfiction, or at least Draco assumed there wasn't. He'd find out for certain, as soon as he found out what fanfiction was.

After class, they dropped their bags off at the common room, and went to dinner, where they discussed what Binns said.

"I always knew that Slytherin was crazy, but I never knew that he started this damn blood purity bull."

"You have to remember, history is written by the victors. It might not have even happened like Binns said. The only thing that we know for certain is, there is a Chamber, there is a monster, and that Damn Diary is forcing some innocent girl to open the damn Chamber. For all we know, the Chamber has some other purpose entirely. Let's just focus on finding the Chamber."

"You know, Nott could easily be the Heir of Slytherin," said Harry.

"Trust me, he's not," said Draco.

"Really, how do you know this?" asked Harry.

"Time travel thing, plus, we proud Pure-Blood families like to map out our family trees. If he was descended from Slytherin, his family would have been boasting about it for ages."

"You said that some things are different than last time around, and some of these changes aren't your fault. Maybe, this is one of those things that have changed."

"You think that my traveling back seven years could change a thousand years of geneology. Actually, that might be possible. After all, my traveling back seven years changed Lockhart into a bad-ass. What do you suggest we do?" Draco said.

"There is a potion that we could use, but the instructions to make it are in the restricted section," Hermione said.

"What potion?" asked Draco.

"The Polyjuice Potion," Hermione said.

"Suddenly everything makes sense. I knew Goyle couldn't read," Draco said.

"What?" Harry asked. After all, this sentence probably made no sense in this context.

"Last time around, Potter and the Weasel used Polyjuice Potion to pretend to be Crabbe and Goyle, presumably to try to interrogate me. They asked me all kinds of questions about the Chamber of Secrets, and Potter claimed his glasses were reading glasses. Struck me as odd, seeing as I didn't think that Goyle could read. You used Polyjuice Potion last time, and for naught, because last time around I knew even less about the Chamber of Secrets than I do now. We are not doing it the same way this time around."

"What will we do this time?"

"This time, we need to locate the Chamber, kill the monster, and destroy the Diary, so this can never happen again."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea," Draco said. "Oh, and you should probably get a copy of your magical family tree Harry."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because, when the school starts to believe that you are the Heir of Slytherin, you need to prove that you aren't. Last time around, it was the attack on Granger that proved it to the sheep, but this time, I'm hoping I can protect Hermione."

"I was attacked in the previous time line?" Hermione asked. She was pale.

"Toward the end of the year. It's odd, because a few weeks later, Potter and the Weasel go into the Chamber of Secrets to rescue the She-Weasel. The only question I have is what did Potter and the Weasel discover that led them into the Chamber of Secrets. Where is the bloody Chamber? I mean, you obviously have to be a Parseltongue to enter. That's how Potter and the Heir opened the Chamber, but Dumbledore and Dippett failed to even find it."

"So, how do we find it?"

"I don't know. Something happened last time around that lead Potter and the Weasel to the Chamber without Granger's help. I don't know what it was, because I wasn't there."

"So, what do we do? Go to the library?"

"No, not yet. There's not enough information available to the non-time travelers. I can't do anything yet."

"Why not?"

"If I do, there would be too many tricky questions. How do you know so much about the attacks? How did you know where the attack would take place? Are you the Heir of Slytherin? I couldn't possibly answer all of them without telling them about time travel."

"So what?"

"I signed a magically binding contract with my handler. I would not tell anybody about time travel, unless they figure it out by themselves. I will not write fanfictions about said time travel, whatever a fanfiction is. I break the contract, and I lose my magic. Not going to happen. The only thing that saves my magic from you knowing, is the fact that you rudely eavesdropped on a private conversation between myself and Professor Dumbledore."

"I still think we should do the Polyjuice Potion. Just to be sure."

"I will not waste time on that. You can brew it if you want to. Actually, please do it. Go ahead if you want, just be prepared for an I told you so."

As they shrugged along, Colin Creevy went past.

"Hiya Harry!" Colin said. God he was so annoyingly perky.

"Hullo, Colin," said Harry automatically.

"Harry, Harry, a boy in my class has been saying you're-"

Then, the force of the people going towards the Great Hall forced him away.

"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione wondered.

"Probably that I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect." Harry said. People did think the worst of Harry. Draco would have to give the students a lecture about that later, because this was inexcusable.

"The sheep here will believe anything." Draco said, his stomach writhing, and his eyes burning with anger and disgust. Damn them, damn them, damn them all to hell. He'd make them all suffer for their arrogance. Every single one of them.


	9. In Which Dobby Tries To Kill Harry

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I also do not own Nico di Angelo.

A/N: I have a Doctor Who reference in here. Also, this is a Quidditch chapter, and thus, will be quite a bit shorter than most others. Just forewarning, as I don't like Quidditch, and there's not a lot I can do to change it.

Chapter Nine: In Which Dobby Tries to Kill Harry and an Important Conversation is Held

Draco had a very good reason to love Defense Against the Dark Arts class. For one, Lockhart was extremely informative, unlike last time. For another, he never knew what to expect. One day, Lockhart would bring a live creature to the class, give a rundown of it's strengths and weaknesses, and have them take the creature down, the next he was teaching them how Ninjas would disappear from view. He also insisted on making them get into physical shape, as he insisted that a man in shape was much more likely to escape a losing battle against the Darkness than one who weighed three hundred pounds. He taught them history, legends, myths, and other like tales, and had the tell him what could be learned from these examples. Always keep learning. Everything is Defense Against the Dark Arts. That was his motto.

One day, Draco decided he needed to get into the Forbidden Section. He needed a specific book. _Magicks Moste Malicious_. In that book was a potion that would help Draco with a problem he had regarding Lucius. Couldn't be traced to him, and would make him significantly easier to deal with. Rule one of Slytherin. Leave nothing to chance. Absolutely nothing. He got the idea from Hermione, seeing as she convinced Lockhart to let her get a copy of _Moste Potente Potions._

"Professor Lockhart, you said that you'd get me a signed note to access any book I might need from the restricted section."

"Provided you don't use that book to do anything I deem as too dark."

"I intend to use my book to get rid of a Dark Wizard."

"Do you indeed?"

"A Death Eater. I know that he'll attack some Muggles soon, and I want to save those Muggles. However, I will not take any chances. When I confront him, I want to make sure I win. That's why I want to read the book _Magicks Moste Malicious._ "

"I know the book. Very dark stuff in there."

"How can you truly beat the Darkness if you do not allow yourself access to spells powerful enough to beat it. You might as well fight a swordfight with a spoon. You probably won't win."

"You poise a good point. Let me tell you a story about another man who sought to battle the Darkness, but he dabbled in the Darkness. You see, during the time of Ulric the Oddball, there was a man named Ronan. When he was eleven, he was sorted into Gryffindor. He was brave, clever, and incredibly noble according to credible sources. All sources say that he was a good man. However, one day, his family was razed to the ground by Ulric.

"So, Ronan studied more advanced forms of magic. Eventually, he came to the same conclusion that you have. That you cannot truly defeat the evil in this world if you refuse to use the same tools as those who practice said evil. He started to dabble in dark magic, and eventually, that dark magic corrupted him. He killed Ulric the Oddball, and eventually became Ronan the Accuser, a far more terrible villain. Far more ruthless. An evil so terrible, that the people turned to Gallert Grindelwald to save them from the darkness.

"The point I am trying to make is, Draco, when you start to access Dark magic, even for the lightest of reasons, that magic seeps into your soul, until one day, you are just as evil, if not more evil than the one you were trying to defeat. Only when one comes that defeats the Darkness without using it, does the cycle break," Lockhart said.

"Two things. First, I am not the hero. That title is reserved for my best friend. Second, the cycle didn't break with Dumbledore's defeat of Grindelwald. The Dark Wanker rose soon after Grindelwald's defeat," Draco said.

"Yes, but not at the strength, nor the cruelity of his predecessors," Lockhart said.

"I am not asking to read this book for myself. I am asking, so I am better equipped to protect my friend, so that his chances of survival would be greatly increased," Draco replied.

"Fine. Let me see the form you have," Lockhart said.

Draco handed Lockhart the form, and moments later, Draco was in the library, handing Madam Pince the form. She looked at it suspiciously, and eventually, handed Draco the book he wanted. Draco took the book to the dormitory, sat in his bed, wondering where Harry was, and started to read. When Harry got back to the dormitory, he looked a bit concerned.

"What's wrong Harry?" Draco asked.

"It's going to take a month to brew the Polyjuice Potion. By that time, Nott could attack half the Muggleborns in school."

"It's not Nott. I know for a fact it's not him. Time Traveler remember."

"Hermione and I think it would be best to act as we did in the original time line. You said that last time we brewed the Polyjuice Potion and interrogated Malfoy. This time, we brew the Polyjuice Potion and interrogate Nott. You don't know. Maybe we gained an important clue brewing the Polyjuice Potion last time around," Harry said.

"We should get to sleep. Tomorrow, you have a date with a tampered Bludger," Draco said. "Fantastic."

Draco then put his book away, and went to sleep. The next day, Harry and Draco both woke up early. Harry went to breakfast, and Draco began to continue reading _Magicks Moste Malicious._ He wanted to find that potion, and start brewing it now. If he started brewing it now, then next summer he could order Lucius' House Elves to put it in his food. He'd lie, saying that his father was suffering liver failure, and that this potion was a cure. However, it had to be put into his food every night. That, combined with his order, would ensure that Lucius would be getting the potion every day, until it was time for Draco to strike. Then, at eleven o'clock, Draco walked to the pitch. Draco needed make sure that Harry survived this game. Plus, it was oddly fun rooting for Gryffindor to win a Quidditch game. Especially when they were playing against Slytherin.

This time, however, Draco wasn't having fun. That damn Bludger seemed to want to destroy Harry. So, it left Draco on the verge of a panic attack, even though Harry was doing some rather exceptional flying. Harry's flying was usually exceptional, but today, luckily, Harry seemed to be taking his performance up a notch. Krum would have difficulty flying as well as Harry was today. At first, one of the Weasley twins seemed to be at Harry at all times, but after Wood called a time out, Harry spoke to them, and after that the Weasley twins left him alone so he could deal with the Bludger and catch the Snitch. Not the easiest thing to do. However, Harry was doing a most excellent job of it.

Then, Harry flew right at Nott, and caught the Snitch, just as that damn Bludger hit his arm. OUCH. Oh well, at least he left unscathed. Draco was going to have to have a word with Dobby. Then Colin took a picture of Harry in the dirt, while Draco, Hermione, and Lockhart rushed to Harry. Draco helped Harry to his feet.

"Get to the Hospital Wing, Harry. Madam Pomphrey will patch that up in a moment," Lockhart said.

"You know, at this pace, they might as well just keep a bed reserved for you at all times," Draco told Harry.

"What, would they call it the Harry Potter Bed?" asked Harry.

"What else would they call it?" asked Draco.

Draco and Hermione took Harry to the Hospital Wing. They took Harry to a bed, and left him in the capable hands of Madam Pomphrey. Then, they left.

"Was it that scary in the original time line?" asked Hermione.

"No, but last time, I didn't exactly like Potter. I found it extremely funny. Like I told you, you want to know what I was doing at a particular time, watch Nott. So, you're doing it."

"Doing what?" asked Hermione.

"The Polyjuice Potion," said Draco.

"Yes," Hermione said.

"Good. The two of you should probably do what you did in the previous time line," Draco said.

Then, Hermione noticed something odd.

"Draco, look at these spiders."

"That is odd. They appear to be fleeing from something. But what are they fleeing from?" Draco wondered aloud.

"I didn't think they generally moved like this."

"They don't."

"So, what now?" Hermione asked.

"Now, we go to bed. I need to access my pensieve. I might have overlooked a clue somewhere. Might not, I don't know. Last time around I didn't exactly go about trying to stop the attacks. In fact, I was crushed that nobody died. I also need to move onto the next step to brewing my own Mandrake potion."

With that, Draco and Hermione went to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione went to the girls common room, and Draco went to the boys common room. He pulled out his pensieve, chose the memory he wanted to study, and went in. After all, if he wanted this to go down right, he needed to know exactly what to say. He poured the memory into the pensieve, and dunked his head inside.

He witnessed the events of what he could only assume was the interrogation that the Weasel and Potter attempted on him. He really should have seen through it. After all, Goyle couldn't read. Now, Draco knew that Nott was not the Heir of Slytherin, but there might be something in the Polyjuice Potion brewing that lead to the destruction of the Monster of Slytherin, whatever that might be.

Then, after he finished with the memory, he put the pensieve up, and pulled out his cauldron, and for the second day in a row, he worked on brewing the potion that would clinch his father's demise. The day before he copied the instructions exactly, so that he'd be able to return the book before the end of the year. Then, after he finished today's instructions for the potion, he stopped brewing, turned around and saw Nico di Angelo.

"You have to stop doing that Nico."

"No, I don't feel like it."

"How long have you been there?"

"About two minutes. By the way, nice job handling the Peter Pettigrew."

"Yep, and next, I need to rig a contest to where I win ten galleons. According to the Rat, that was how Sirius found him last time."

"I trust that Pettigrew won't escape your grasp."

"I've taken every possible precaution. Dumbledore will give me Pettigrew by the end of the year. Now, I have a question."

"Fire away."

"Why is Lockhart so different in this time line?"

"We decided to give you a useful ally. Besides, one more wand in the Chamber can't possibly hurt can it?"

"I suppose not."

"Now to the important matters. You have to start thinking about this now."

"Thinking about what?"

"You have to decide the fate of the Wizarding World."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that? I don't have a seat in the Wizengambot."

"You're smart enough to figure out how to get one. Shouldn't be that difficult. No, I'm talking about Harry Potter."

"What about Harry?"

"You realize that Harry controls two Ancient and Most Noble Houses. Sirius Black will control one Ancient and Most Noble House. When you factor in House Longbottom, House Thawne, and House Bones, that's six of fifteen Ancient and Most Noble Houses. One third of the Wizengambot vote. When you figure out how to get a seat on the Wizengambot, that will be seven of fifteen votes. You need to choose who Harry Potter marries, and you have to choose quickly."

"Why?"

"Because if you don't choose quickly, he'll be potioned, and the next thing you know, there will be an Albus Severus Potter."

"Albus Severus Potter? Why the hell would Harry name his son after Severus? I mean, I know Severus loved Lily, and has been keeping Harry alive for years, but he also made Harry's life a living hell. Those potions must have screwed up his brain cells. But why do I have to choose the next Lady Potter?"

"Because Harry Potter is known to repeatedly make bad decisions in the romance department. We hope that his real best friend will do much better than he did. I mean, look at his relationships in the original time line. Cho Chang and Ginerva Weasley. Both bad ideas, and both must not happen. We got so disgusted by his choices that we decided to force you to choose for him."

"I thought that you already decided that he has to marry Luna Lovegood."

"Surely you can spot the obvious problem with that idea."

"Of course. He has to marry for power, rather than love. We want him to marry for the maximum political effect. He can't marry a Muggleborn as they've got no real political power. Should probably marry someone in his year group. That narrows down most of Hogwarts. Shouldn't marry a Gryffindor, as that would be seen as him showing bias towards his own house. He can't marry a Ravenclaw as they have no idea how to act in public, and would embarrass him repeatedly. That narrows it down to Hufflepuff and Slytherin. The only ones with any political power in Hufflepuff are Bones and Abbott, and both tend to vote with Potter, so that's right out. That leaves only the Slytherins. Can't be somebody that's dark, as that would upset the members of his alliance. Thus that leaves Tracy Davis, and Daphne Greengrass. That will be tricky."

"I'll leave you to your thinking Draco."

Draco watched with amusement as Nico disappeared. Draco then realized that it would be a good idea to start this political alliance the next day. He wrote several letters, and went to bed. Then, he took a dreamless potion and went to bed.


	10. The Great Alliance

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: I have a Watchmen reference in here. God I love that Graphic Novel.

Chapter Ten: The Great Alliance

It was Sunday, the day that Draco intended to begin the Great Alliance as he decided to call it. He already selected the people who'd be in this alliance. He woke up, and went to the owlery. He attached several letters written the night before to the owls, and sent them flying. Hopefully, they'll appear with the other mail. Then, he when he turned around to head to the common room, he saw Dumbledore standing before him.

"Peculiar day to be sending out mail before visiting your best friend Draco."

"I'm headed back to the common room to see him then. After all, he's been released from the hospital wing."

"There was another attack today."

"I know. Colin Creepy right?"

"If you mean Colin Creevy, then yes. I take it you aren't very fond of Mr. Creevy."

"He's the worlds biggest fan of Harry Potter. The resident stalker."

"Peter Pettigrew is in my office. Do you want to collect him today, or should we wait a tiny bit to be certain of the success of Operation Rat?"

"We'll wait a tiny bit. By the way, do could you rig a raffle for me. It needs to be a big raffle. Capable of hitting the Daily Prophet's front page next summer, in time for Fudge to have the paper on him when he visits Sirius Black."

"I assume that's how he found Pettigrew in the original time line?"

"You guess right. However, just because we have Pettigrew in a spot that he can't escape from, doesn't mean we can lower our guard. Only you and I can know the full details of Operation Free the Mutt. Also, you can be certain that when push comes to shove, Fudge will do everything in his power to bury this, and stick his head in the sand. The next phase is crucial to making sure that Fudge cannot do that."

"Good luck. An innocent life hangs in the balance."

"Agreed."

Draco walked away, and Dumbledore let him. Both of them felt that real change was going to be occurring in the Wizarding World. Neither, however, knew whether or not the change would be positive. They just knew that nothing would be the same.

He made it to the common room, where he saw Harry and Hermione sitting in the chairs. Draco sat down.

"You look like you have something to tell me Harry," Draco said.

"It's big. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before," Harry replied.

"I already knew that. Happened before my father's time, but he knows who it is. It's the Diary that opens the Chamber of Secrets. The Diary, which is possessing an innocent girl. We need to bring Luna Lovegood into these talks."

"Why?" Hermione asked. She looked genuinely curious.

"Because she sees things that you cannot possibly understand. She's not quite a seer, she's actually a tiny bit more powerful than one. She sees the truth, rather than the future. Plus, in the original timeline, she was quite the force to be reckoned with. That reminds me, Harry, we have to be in the library at lunch. Hermione, it would be best if you were there to witness this."

"Why?" Harry asked this time. These people really seemed to like that word. But, then again, Draco was playing on a different platform than them. He saw all the pieces, for now at least. He knew what to expect, for the most part. They didn't.

"We are going to have the most important conversation of your life. A conversation that will affect the Wizarding World forever."

"You seem rather certain of that. Who's showing up?"

"Neville, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Eobard Thawne Jr., Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davis, Millicent Bulstrode, and Blaise Zabini."

"That's a lot of Slytherins."

"Don't worry, the only one that's kind of borderline is Millicent Bulstrode. They are special."

"How so?"

"Because, except for Susan Bones, they are the first born children of their respective Ancient and Most Noble Houses. Susan is the adoptive niece of Amelia Bones, who never had children, but resides on the Wizengambot. They are also from families that are historically either light or grey. That being said, these are destined to be the most politically powerful children in the world. Try not to embarrass me."

"Okay, there's something else you should know. Colin's been attacked."

"Poor boy." Hermione replied.

"I don't see it that way, but then again, I found Colin kind of creepy."

That kind of killed the conversation. They went to breakfast, where Draco was relieved to see the owls he sent entering the Great Hall, and delivering his letters to his intended recipients. That meant that his plan was working. After they ate, they went to Myrtle's Toilet, where Hermione had set up the Polyjuice Potion.

"I think it's best if we begin brewing today, after all, if Nott is the Heir of Slytherin, it's best that we bust him as soon as possible," Hermione said.

"When will it be ready?" Harry asked.

"Over the Christmas holiday," Draco said. "Or at least, I assume that's when it took place. After all, Crabbe and Goyle were acting quite strange during that point of the year."

"Nobody else was?" Hermione asked.

"Nope. Absolutely nobody else," Draco said.

"You know what I want to know, how is it moving around the castle without being seen?" Harry asked.

"No idea. I never knew what the monster was. Rumors had it being everything from a Rogue Dementor to a couple of Daleks, whatever a Dalek was."

"So, the rumor mill is absolutely useless," Harry said.

"Never, but in this case, it is a bit helpless," Draco replied.

"Did you find anything useful in your pensieve yesterday?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing, all though, I've had a visit from my case handler," Draco said.

"Did he tell you anything useful?"

"Oh, just that Harry is not allowed to choose his future wife," Draco said.

"WHY THE HELL NOT?" Harry asked with indignation.

"Because, apparently, if you get to choose, we'll end up with an Albus Severus Potter," Draco replied. "So, to remove that risk, my case handler told me to choose the future Lady Potter. Another reason for you to talk to everybody at this meeting. After all, I've narrowed it to two women, and they're both at this meeting," Draco said.

"But to be unable to choose one's own wife? That's barbaric." Hermione said.

"Hey, you're the ones who yank out people's teeth. Be careful what you call barbaric," Draco said. "Plus, most pure bloods don't get to choose who they marry. I barely got out of a betrothal contract. With Pansy Parkinson. I'm not cursing Harry with somebody like that. I'm a better friend than that."

"Who are you cursing me with then?" Harry asked.

"I still haven't chosen yet. She'll be at this meeting. So, be polite, and don't embarrass me."

"On another topic, we don't have all the ingredients to brew Polyjuice Potion. Therefore, we're going to have to steal them from Snape's supply," Hermione said.

"Not looking foward to that," Draco said. "I'll steal them. If he catches you guys doing it, you'll be screwed, however, if he catches me doing it, I should be able to come up with an excuse he'll believe. Besides, if you're in the Potions classroom when supplies go missing from the supply closet, he can't blame you."

"He might try," Harry said.

"No, he's too rational for that. This is the man who guarded the Philosopher's Stone with a logic puzzle. He knows that people can't be in two places at once. He'll simply eliminate you as a suspect. Logic will bring him to the only available suspect, me. He'll ask me why I'm stealing potions supplies, and I'll take advantage of a few weaknesses of his."

"Snape doesn't have weaknesses," Hermione said.

"Wrong, he has one. The same weakness I have," Draco said.

"What is it?" Harry asked. He seemed interested. He would.

"I can't tell you that. One, you wouldn't believe me in a billion years. Two, it's none of your business. Three, he specifically told Dumbledore that you must never know. I'm not going to betray Dumbledore, not even for my best friend," Draco said.

Dumbledore was a very useful ally in the war against Voldemort. The one difference between Dumbledore and Draco, Dumbledore preached forgiveness and second chances. Draco didn't believe in forgiveness. He never gave second chances. Soon it would happen. Soon, the Death Eaters, the accumulated filth of all their sex and murder would foam up about their waists, and all those whores and politicians would look up and shout "save us!" and Draco'd look down and whisper "no." They had their chance. They could have refused the Dark Mark. But they took it, and with that, they took away Draco's pity. They'd die, a slow, painful death, and Draco would relish it.

But Draco could wait a couple years to get rid of Death Eaters. After all, some might not go back to the Dark Wanker. Those that chose not to return to the Dark Wanker would earn pardon for themselves. And Severus would go back to the Dark Wanker, but his soul would not, nor would his heart. He'd be an important median of information. But enough of that. He had to focus on the task at hand. Which, oddly enough, was proving Nott's innocence.

"What I need is a diversion. Something that will attract Professor Snape's attention long enough for me to get what we need, which in this case is the Bicorn Horn and the Boonslang Skin. Two items that also, coincidentally are in a potion that I know how to brew called Draught of the Dreamless Sleep. Can I trust you to make a large enough distraction."

"You can count on me," Harry said. Harry looked pale. After all, deliberately causing mayhem in Snape's class was as safe as poking a sleeping dragon.

The class went the usual way, everybody brewing their potions. Draco was working with Daphne, a good distance away from Goyle's potion, as he knew that's where Harry was going to aim the Filibuster Rocket. Their potion was perfect so far, not too runny, not too thick. Not even a perfectionist like Severus would be able to find anything wrong with it. But then, even in the previous time line, he was the best in the year at potions, except for that odd sixth year, in which Harry had an odd boost in ability. Draco still didn't know what to think about it.

"Draco, why do you want to meet after lunch? What's your game?" Daphne asked.

"You'll see. Believe me, if all goes according to plan, the balance of power will shift to a completely different place," Draco replied enigmatically.

"This is a House matter isn't it? You're already playing the great game aren't you? But you don't have a seat on the Wizengambot."

"True, but my best friend does. His proxy, as much as I respect him, will soon be removed from that game, so that he can focus on matters that need his attention."

Then, Draco looked at Harry, and, using all his occlumency training, mentally sent a thought to Harry. The thought was, "NOW." The next thing anyone knew, Goyle's potion exploded. As Snape tried to restore order, Draco slipped by. Draco passed by Goyle's potion on his way to the Potions storage closet. He took the remains of Harry's Filibuster Rocket, and entered the closet. He quickly grabbed the exact amount of Bycorn Horn and Boonslang Skin that he needed and walked back into the class. Daphne shot him a questioning look, as Draco shot her a look that clearly meant _I'll tell you later._ Daphne shot him one that clearly said _you better._ Purebloods were trained from a young age at letting their faces do the real talking. They were also trained at keeping their faces free of expression. Both of which were useful tools in the real world.

After everybody had been given an antidote to the swelling potion that Goyle's exploding potion hit everyone with, Snape inspected Goyle's potion, and concluded that Goyle was an incompetent dunderhead with no possible future in the fine world of potions. He kind of had to, seeing as Draco stole all the evidence of foul play. No evidence of fowl play, and the fact that Goyle was hopeless when it came to potions. For the first time in recent memory, Severus docked 20 points from Slytherin for sloppy potion making, and a complete disregard for instructions clearly given by the book.

After he let everybody go, Draco met with Harry and Hermione in the common room, where he showed them the Bycorn Horn and the Boonslang Skin.

"Why didn't Snape find any evidence of a rocket?" Harry asked.

"What? This rocket?" Draco asked as he held up the blackened remains of a Filibuster firework. Harry and Hermione looked at him with amazement.

"How did you?" Hermione asked.

"On the way to the Potions classroom, I nicked this from Goyle's potion, careful to avoid touching the potion itself. That's how Snape figured the game out last time. Oh, that reminds me, you should probably learn occlumency."

"Occlu-what?" Harry asked.

"The art of keeping your mind shut. Your mind is only your mind when it is blocked off from outside influence. Your lack of Occlumency shields, as well as my own talent for Legimency was how I was able to send you that message. It's how Severus keeps busting you."

"I knew Snape could read minds!" Harry said.

"It's not that simple. The mind is not a book. It is rather more complex than that. You can't simply read minds like a book. You can look at someone's memories, sometimes even access their thoughts, but you can't read minds."

"How do you block your mind?" Hermione asked. Of course she'd be interested. The most brilliant witch of the age.

"Well, it generally begins with meditation. Clearing your mind. Now, let's put these potion ingredients up, and go. We have a meeting to attend, and I guarantee that after this meeting, nothing will ever be the same."

"How can any meeting ever be that important? We're children!" Hermione asked.

"Yes, and Hogwarts is, as any Pureblood knows, the beginnings of our political careers. The fate of the world lies on this meeting."

"How could the fate of the world lie on one meeting?" Harry asked this time. They were obviously doubters.

"If everything goes right, by the time you're on the Wizengambot Chamber, you'll already be in an alliance that will control a near majority of the votes. Especially because nobody realizes that you are a direct line descendent of Godric Gryffindor, thus activating an inactive seat on the Wizengambot. It's especially important as much of our laws are passed in the Wizengambot Chamber. So, don't embarrass me."

The meeting took place at the library. Draco wasn't exactly one hundred percent confident in the location, but it was neutral territory, and it didn't give away Draco's fondest secret away. The Room of Hidden Things. He wanted that to stay a secret for a while. So, the library was kind of the only option for the Great Meeting. He looked in the window, and saw Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis already there. Draco pushed Harry into the room, making three Ancient and Most Noble Houses in that room. A powerful alliance on it's own. However, Draco was hoping for a larger audience. Then, he got his wish, as Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot walked in. Two more Ancient and Most Noble Houses. Next, Neville Longbottom walked in. Six Ancient and Most Noble Houses. Next, from Ravenclaw, Eobard Thawne Jr. walked into the room. Making Seven. Then, Blaise Zabini and Millicent Bulstrode walked into the room, making nine. If they all agreed to join this alliance, this would be the biggest political alliance in history, and the only unbeatable one. However, Draco knew that a few of them probably would not join this alliance, ever. Draco and Hermione walked into the room. It was time for this meeting to begin.

Draco pulled out his wand and silently cast _Muffiato_ on the surrounding area. After all, it wouldn't do anybody any benefit for this meeting to be interrupted by eavesdroppers. That would be very annoying. He sat down. Then, he spoke. He needed to be seen as the leader of this alliance. He needed to be the one who started this meeting.

"Thank you all for coming. All of you can probably assume why I asked you all to come here," Draco said.

"You can count me out. Zabini's don't enter political alliances. We find them to be to restricting," Blaise said.

"Did you really come all this way just to tell me no? Not even going to hear me out?" Draco asked.

"The Boy-Who-Lived is in this political alliance of yours. While I have nothing against him, I wonder, is he in control of his decisions, or are you the puppet master. Or, maybe Dumbledore is the puppet master of both of you. I have no wish to live with strings. House Zabini will not join this political alliance," Blaise replied.

"You sound like you have your mind made up. You may leave if you wish, however, once you leave, you will not be able to listen to this meeting. I've already cast an anti-eavesdropping spell on the surrounding area. I'm nothing if not thorough," Draco said.

Then, Blaise walked away from the chance of a life time.

"That was not all together unexpected. However, the rest of you still hold a majority of the seats in the Wizengambot."

"But you do not," Neville said.

"I suppose that's true. I don't hold a seat on the Wizengambot Chamber. However, when my father dies, I'll control the largest fortune in this country. I'll be able to significantly contribute to the political campaigns for whomever we choose needs to be Minister of Magic. The future of the Wizarding World lies, not on the battlefield, but on the floors of the Ministry. We have the ability to change the world for the better. End the chances for future Dark Lords, because let's face it, when Dark Lords are about, nobody buys product, and that is bad for business," Draco said.

"But at what point in removing Dark Lords from existence, does this alliance become, by definition, Dark?" Neville asked.

"It won't Scion of House Longbottom. We have you and Harry to keep that from happening," Draco said. "As well as, should they accept the invitation into this alliance, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot."

"I'm here to listen to your proposal. The Lord of my House did not give me the authority to enter an alliance without his consent," Hannah said.

"I, however, have do have my father's full consent to enter an alliance, granted it doesn't contradict with our Houses goals, and I have every intention of joining this alliance," Daphne said.

Great, two houses so far. Probably three, when Neville gives his piece. After all, he spoke as if this alliance already existed as more than an idea. Tracy would probably follow Greengrass which means it'll be at least four Ancient and Most Noble Houses. Two Gryffindor's and Two Slytherins working together in an alliance. A historic event.

"I came here under the permission of Lady Amelia Bones with the knowledge that should this alliance come about, Madam Bones would be excused from said alliance until I have reached my majority. Basically, I'm in."

"Like Zabini, House Bulstrode does not enter political alliances. It's been that way since the beginning of the Wizengambot Chamber. I however, leave with the hope that you will use your alliance to benefit the Wizarding World, rather than to destroy it."

With that Millicent Bulstrode walked out, pride intact, and politically unattached. Draco saw that coming, as much as it saddened him.

"I do not like this alliance. It seems more like a bid for power than an attempt to preserve the Wizarding World. I too, will not be in this alliance," Thawne said.

With that, Eobard Thawne Jr. walked out, and Draco had a funny suspicion that Eobard Thawne Jr. was going to end up causing their alliance a lot of trouble. He couldn't prove it though. His spirits sank with the knowledge that now three houses he wanted were now out of this alliance. That meant that the majority he was looking for was now gone.

"I will join this alliance. I feel that I can keep this alliance from going off the deep end, and into darkness. Therefore, House Potter is in."

Yeah, Draco already knew that Harry was in. Harry understood it's importance.

"I'm in as well. I grow tired of waiting for House Davis to do anything. Our way of life is dying. We pretend it doesn't, but every day we lose more and more of our culture. We know what to do, but we forget why we do them. Hopefully, this alliance will help save the Wizarding World from the loss of identity," Tracy Davis said.

Actually, Draco had no idea she was hoping to accomplish this. That made Draco admire her even more than he already did. Now, he had two confirmed Slytherins, one confirmed Gryffindor, One confirmed Hufflepuff, one Gryffindor that was considering joining, and one Hufflepuff that was considering joining. There were no Ravenclaws, as the only Ravenclaw that was represented already declined the chance to join this alliance. Then Neville spoke his piece.

"I've considered it, and Scion of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Davis is right. We are losing our identity. I'm in this alliance. That way, we have a chance to try to regain what was lost," Neville said.

Make that two confirmed Slytherins, Two confirmed Gryffindors, One confirmed Hufflepuff, and one Hufflepuff that needed permission. Draco didn't actually know what her response was going to be, but he hoped she'd accept the invitation. After all, six of thirteen was a slightly stronger alliance than five of thirteen. Slightly harder to beat in a vote. That one vote may end up making the difference between victory and defeat in the coming war. Draco thought that it was better to prepare for the coming war. And at the end of the day, the war, and what comes after was why Draco decided to form this alliance in the first place. Now, rather than later so that it could not be seen as trying to coerce some gray families into a war against Voldemort.

"Anybody have anything else to add?" Draco added.

"I believe that this alliance should meet on a semi-regular basis. That way, we could discuss coming bills and such, and gain an official alliance decision on how they should go down," Neville said.

"I second this. As such, I also believe that we should have a way of communicating with each other, in case we are unable to attend the meetings due to having business elsewhere," Susan said.

"Also, should one of our members choose to leave the alliance, they must be free to do so," Daphne said.

"I second this. The point I wish to bring up is this. There is no point in having an alliance if we don't vote together. Anonymously. We vote privately in the alliance, and then the winning vote is how we vote publicly. We must appear to be a united front. Does anybody else have any terms they wish to bring up?" Draco said.

"I don't. I just have a question. Why is Granger here? She has no place in the Wizengambot, and Muggleborns have never gotten very high positions in the Ministry. Theoretically, there's no reason why she'd be here," Tracy said. Draco was wondering when someone would ask that question.

"That's one of the things I intend to change. She's my friend, and this is the only time I'm going to be able to ask for one of you to give her lessons in Pureblood etiquette. As a favor towards somebody who very much hopes to have a long and enduring friendship with each one of you," Draco said.

"I'll do it. After all, it would be improper for the Slytherins to do it, and women have different customs than men. Therefore, it could only be Hannah or myself," Susan said.

Begin getting her ready for the New Years Day ball in fourth year, check. Get potion ready to serve, check. Start learning more advanced spells for the inevitable duel, check. Operation Lucius is almost finished. Soon afterwards, he'd find out if Narcissa was a true believer in the Dark Wanker, or if she were a loyal housewife. Everything was coming together.

Politically, the Dark Wanker was nearly finished. Economically, Operation Lucius was instrumental in destroying the Dark Wanker. Socially, well, Draco didn't really have to do that much there. After all, the Dark Wanker crucio'd his own servants for no good reason. Now, all the left would be the battlefield, and to be honest, that was where the real test was always going to lie. Especially since Bellatrix Lestrange from the future would be arriving in a year and a half. Bellatrix Lestrange with foreknowledge, nothing scarier in the world. On the plus side, Bellatrix Lestrange from the future would have no problem believing Severus' loyalties. After all, Severus killed Dumbledore. Everything was going according to plan.

The alliance was basically finalized. Of the ones that didn't refuse to join the alliance, only Hannah had not joined, and that was because she couldn't join without approval from the lord of her house. Draco hoped his father's bad reputation amongst the light wouldn't hinder her ability to join the Great Alliance as he was calling it in his head. They'd meet again at a later time, and at said time they'd gain their communication devices. For now, there was nothing else they could do, however, Draco was playing for the long game.

He was also grateful that Harry hadn't embarrassed himself, or Draco, too much. That meant that Draco had less to teach Harry than he initially thought. He had to find out who had been giving Harry lessons. Draco suspected it was Neville, but couldn't prove it.

Hours turned into days, seven days to be precise. By that time, Hannah had gotten approval to join the Great Alliance. That meant that they controlled six votes out of thirteen. Politically, Draco's enemies would have a hard time beating Draco.

A/N: Yes, I have plans for the Great Alliance. And yes, it was necessary to have so many people in that meeting, even though, I refused to have all of them join. It's for my brilliant subplot for book five. Maybe even the main plot, if I can work it that way. We'll just have to see.


	11. The Dueling Club

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I do, however, own a copy of the book.

A/N:

Chapter Eleven: The Dueling Club

The seventh day after the formation of the Great Alliance, Draco, Harry, and Hermione were walking across the entrance hall when they saw a small knot of people gathered around the notice board, reading a small piece of parchment that had just been pinned up. Squeamish Fineagain and Dean Thomas, who used to love Football, beckoned them over, looking excited.

"They're starting a Dueling Club!" Squeamish said. "First meeting tonight! I wouldn't mind dueling lessons; they might come in handy one of these days."

"You got that right. I'll go, it'll be entertaining at the least," Draco said.

"Aren't you interested in learning how to duel?" Hermione asked.

"My father expected me to be a Slytherin."

"What does being Sorted into Slytherin have to do with anything?" Hermione asked.

"You get your rooms based on how well you duel. The better you duel, the better rooms you get. In first year, I knew more nasty curses than most Professors in the school. Believe me, I know how to duel."

As they walked away, Draco grinned.

"Why are you grinning?" Hermione asked.

"Just remembering last time around," Draco said.

"What happened," Harry said nervously.

Whenever Draco grinned when remembering the last time around, it was never good for Harry.

"Nothing, just don't talk to the snake. Most wizards can't do that," Draco said.

"Don't talk to what?" Hermione asked.

"The snake," Draco replied.

"What snake?" Harry asked, getting increasingly nervous.

"The snake that Nott will conjure," Draco said.

"He can conjure a snake, and I'm _not_ supposed to talk to it?" Harry said incredulously.

"Really that's why you're upset? Because I told you not to talk to a snake? Seriously, don't talk to the snake. Remember, as far as the Wizarding World is concerned, talking to snakes is a dark ability."

"Oh, fantastic!" Harry groaned.

"Harry's a Parseltongue? Of course he's a Parseltongue. Why am I bothering to ask. If something inconvenient could happen, it's going to happen to Harry."

"Hey, that's my line!" Draco said.

"Stop it guys. Enough joking at my expense," Harry said.

"Really, do you know how much stress your idiotic, sometimes suicidal life causes me? Or how difficult it is keeping you alive so you can kill the Dark Wanker? It's gets a little annoying. Try to stay out of trouble at least once in your damn life."

Harry and Hermione wanted to go to the Duel Club, and Draco thought it could be entertaining at the least, so at eight o'clock they hurried back to the Great Hall. The long tables had vanished, and a golden stage appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles. Exactly as he expected. The ceiling was velvety black, and most of the school showed up. Draco remembered that officially, the Slytherins didn't know how to duel, so it would have been suspicious if the Slytherins didn't show up. Thus, he knew that every Slytherin in the entire school was there.

"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" Hermione said excitedly. "Someone told me that Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young- maybe it'll be him."

"Or, maybe Lockhart," Harry said. "He's certainly skilled and capable enough to teach a class how to duel."

Then, Gilderoy Lockhart, the man who was not a pansy, walked onto the stage accompanied by Severus Snape. Two very talented duelists. Draco was actually starting to think these students might actually learn something.

"Gather round, gather round. Can everybody see me? Can you all hear me? Good. Professor Dumbledore asked me to start this club, to train you in the unexpected. The world is a dangerous place, and Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape and I believe that you should be prepared to face it. To begin with, Professor Snape and I will begin with a little demonstration, show you how a sanctioned duel will look. The protocols, if you will. The rules of engagement. Shall we begin Professor Snape?"

"Of course," Severus drawled. He had a smile on his face. Oh, Severus was going to look foward to fighting against the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Draco could tell that Severus wanted to discredit him so badly. The only problem was, Lockhart was actually a good Professor in this time line. Lockhart earned his position. This would be a good, but harmless fight.

Lockhart and Snape bowed to each other. They turned away from each other, and walked ten paces. They raised their wands, and lowered their wands. Then, before Snape could do anything, Lockhart struck.

 _"Expelliarmus!"_ Lockhart shouted.

It happened so fast, so suddenly, that even Severus was caught unawares, and the Disarming Charm hit it's mark. Snape was flown backwards, and his wand was thrust from his body. Lockhart wasn't done yet. He pointed his wand at Severus.

 _"Petrificus Totalus,"_ Lockhart continued.

"That was the Disarming Charm, combined with the Total Body Bind Curse. Very useful combination. Disarming Charm, as you saw removes your opponent's wand, and thus their weapon from their persons, and the Total Body Bind, well, it does just what it says on the tin. Should both your spells make their mark, you will win the duel, however, don't expect it to hit your mark. I very much suspect that your Potions Master took the Disarming Charm on purpose, just to let you see the effects of the spell. He probably wasn't expecting the Total Body Bind, though, because let's face it, nobody volunteers to go through the Total Body Bind. Now, here's a spell that will remove most curses."

Lockhart pointed his wand at Severus and said, _"Finite Incantem."_

Instantly, Severus got up, and turned towards Lockhart, his glare obvious. Lockhart seemed unaffected. Lockhart was probably an expert occlumens. However, Lockhart probably got the idea anyways, as he turned towards the crowd.

"That's enough with demonstration. I'm going to come amongst you now, and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me, that would be most wonderful."

Then, Lockhart and Severus went through the crowd, and started pairing people. Draco was paired with Squeamish Fineagain. Excellent. Draco still hadn't forgiven Squeamish for that insulting comment that made Hermione cry in the girls bathrooms last year. The comments that put her in the path of a troll. Squeamish probably didn't even remember that comment, but Draco did. Very well. He'd have fun making Squeamish pay for those disparaging remarks. Maybe it was time for Draco to show a little more power than he usually did. After all, if he was going to lead these people in the coming war, he needed to give a show of his true power eventually. Draco would do this without uttering a single word. Draco pointed his wand at Squeamish, and the fun began. First, Draco did the Curse of the Thousand Bogies. Then, Draco used the Jelly Legs Curse. Then, he used the Vomiting Slugs Curse. And, finally, he ended with The Curse of One Million Nightmares. Squeamish was forced to go to sleep, screaming, vomiting slugs. A fitting justice for that comment about Hermione. Then, he turned, and saw everyone staring at him.

"What? Seamus deserved every curse and more," Draco said.

"I think we better show you lot how to deflect unfriendly spells," Lockhart said. "How about a demonstration pairing. How about Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley?"

"Bad idea, Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox. How about Nott and Potter?" Severus drawled, his face in a twisted smile.

"Excellent idea, Professor Snape," Lockhart said. "After all, the fastest way to learn is amongst your enemies. Isn't that right Professor?"

"Of course it is," Severus drawled.

"All right, Harry, when Theodore curses you, you move your wand like this," Lockhart said as he demonstrated how to deflect curses. "Do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now, give that Theodore kid hell. Three, two, one go!"

 _"Serpensortia!"_ Nott bellowed, with his wand pointed at Harry.

The next thing everybody knew, a snake appeared out of nowhere. Soon after being summoned, the snake proved that it was not the least bit interested in Harry. It seemed more interested in Finch-Fletchley. Draco then, raised his wand, pointed it at the snake, but he was to late, for right before he was about to unleash his curse, and kill the snake, Harry hissed at it. The damage that Draco hoped to avoid was done. The school now knew that Harry was a Parseltongue. They believed him to be the heir of Slytherin. Draco needed to call an emergency session of the Great Alliance. After all, this is part of the reason he formed it.

Draco broke out of his stupor, killed the snake with a cutting curse, walked over to his best friend, grabbed his arm, and pulled him away. Draco needed to have a talk to Harry about following orders. Then, he needed to contact the other members of the alliance. He had to prove Harry's innocence before the other students. Hopefully without Hermione's getting petrified.

"You just had to do it didn't you?" Draco said.

"What?" Harry asked confused.

"You had to talk to the damn snake! And don't pretend this is the first time it's happened. There are probably hundreds of snakes in the world calling you friend! God damn it! Why can't you just ignore a snake?" Draco said frustrated.

"It was going to attack Justin. I stopped it."

"I know that. Hermione knows that. You know that. Everyone else just saw you egging a snake on. Encouraging it to attack a Muggleborn."

"What?"

"Harry, very very few wizards in the world are Parseltongues. In the past fifty years, there have been two of them. You and the Dark Wanker. Before that, attending Hogwarts, just you, the Dark Wanker, and Salazar Slytherin. Now, everybody knows that you share a rare gift with Slytherin. As far as the school is concerned, you are the only suspect in these attacks. As far as they believe, you are the only possible Heir of Slytherin."

"But that's ridiculous. I can't be descended from Slytherin," Harry said.

"You're going to find that hard to prove. After all, Slytherin lived hundreds of years ago. For all we know, you could be," Hermione said.

"Maybe not. After all, Harry is from an old, powerful Pureblood family. Families like that, like to keep family trees. They like to prove their lineage, as to prove their right to a seat on the Wizengambot. The Potters are one of the few families in the world, where documentation might exist proving that you are not descended from Slytherin. Or proving that you are, either way. The only question is, do you want to find out?"

"I do," Harry said. "I want to prove that I'm not behind the attacks."

"Good. Then, we need to call a meeting of the Great Alliance."


	12. An Unexpected Attack

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I barely own this idea, which is a slight modification on the Reptilia28 Challenge.

A/N:

Chapter Twelve: The Unexpected Attack and Draco Fights Back

The next day, Draco was busy. That day, he had to get the Great Alliance to meet. Then, he had the very difficult task of proving that Harry Potter is not related to Salazar Slytherin. As every Pureblood knows, it is easier to prove that you're related to someone than it is to prove that you aren't. Even harder when that person lived thousands of years ago, and technically, all Pureblooded families have been related for the past three hundred years. That's three hundred years of inbreeding, and mixing. All making it harder to prove that Slytherin wasn't related to Harry any more than he was related to Draco, Harry's closest relative in this school. Luckily, in this task, Draco wouldn't have to work alone. Or at least he hoped he wouldn't. Draco was mulling what he had to do, when he heard something that troubled him. It was Hannah Abbott and Ernie McMillan. They were doing something called loud whispering.

"So, anyway," McMillan was saying. "I told Justin to hide up in our dormitory. I mean to say, if Potter's marked him down as his next victim, it's best he keeps a low profile for a while. Of course, Justin's been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he let it slip to Potter that he was Muggle-born. Justin actually _told_ him he'd been down to Eton. That's not the sort of thing you bandy about with Slytherin's heir on the loose, is it?"

"You definitely think it _is_ Harry, then, Ernie," said Hannah.

"Hannah, he's a Parselmouth. Everyone knows that's the mark of a Dark Wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent one who can talk to snakes?" McMillan asked. He intended this as a rhetorical question, but Draco had an answer.

"Merlin," Draco said to McMillan. "According to several reliable sources, Merlin was a Parselmouth. He's not the only one. Errol the Fair, Ygraine the Just, Maleficent the Loyal. History is loaded with Parselmouths that were light, just as it is loaded with Dark Wizards that were in Hufflepuff."

"Name one!" Ernie said in protest.

"I'll name three. Ulric the Oddball, Barty Crouch Junior, and Helena the Wretched. That answer your question?" Draco said. "Next time before making baseless accusations, do a little research to back your claim up. Which reminds me, Hannah, we have work to do. Tell Susan we have to meet in the usual place. Full meeting."

With that, Draco was about to walk away, when Ernie asked the question that Draco couldn't believe that Ernie was stupid enough to ask.

"Then, if Potter isn't a Dark wizard, how did he make You-Know-Who disappear?"

"I'll tell you how he made Voldemort vanish," Draco said, relishing how McMillan and Hannah flinched at the name. "He didn't. It was Lily Potter who did it. You see, Voldemort demanded that Lily move out of the way. She refused, and begged him to kill her instead, and he did it. Then, he tried to kill Lily, not realizing that very old and powerful magic was at work. Harry is alive because Lily Potter loved her son so much that she was willing to die to protect him. That kind of love is so powerful that it cause the curse to backfire, and hit her son's attacker rather than her son. That's how Voldemort vanished. It was nothing Harry did. Harry is alive, because his parents are not. That is the entire truth. You can check with Dumbledore if you want. You can check with Voldemort, should Voldemort return."

"So why did You-Know-Who even go to the Potter Cottage in the first place?"

"That is Classified information. I swore a magical oath that I would never tell anyone why Voldemort visited Potter Cottage that Halloween night," Draco replied. "I tell you, and I lose my magic. So, not worth giving up an official secret to you McMillan. Any other questions?"

"He hates the Muggles he lives with," Ernie said.

"I spent five minutes with those Muggles, and I hate them. It's impossible to live with those monsters and not hate them. They made him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs until he was eleven, when the stole his first Hogwarts letter, before he was allowed to read it, burned it to a crisp, and allowed him the bedroom he should have had his entire life. Of course he hates those Muggles. But look at who his best friend is. Hermione Granger, Muggle-Born. Proof that the logic behind Blood Purity is wrong. Good day idiots."

Draco was about to leave, when he suddenly had a thought. He turned back to McMillan.

"Oh, and McMillan, you have dishonored the Lord of an Ancient and Most Noble House. I know you're a Pureblood, which means that you've had training in Pureblood Etiquette. You know what Harry is entitled to do. I shall tell him what you said. Tomorrow, when you have to beg Harry's forgiveness, instead of facing him in an Honor Duel, let that serve as proof that Harry is not the one who's been attacking those Muggleborns."

Then, Draco left the room, leaving those Hufflepuffs much to think about. Then, Draco bumped into Harry.

"How much did you hear?"

"All of it. Thank you for sticking up for me," Harry said.

"No problem. After all, what are friends for," Draco said. "Besides, we've got work to do. And there's another attack scheduled, so we've got to make sure we're nowhere near this location when Justin and Nearly-Headless Nick are found."

As they were walking away, they bumped into Hagrid, who was holding dead roosters. Draco felt like something was trying to bark at him from his memory, yet for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was. Something regarding the spiders and roosters. Oh well, Draco'd probably figure it out later on.

"What are you doing Hagrid?"

"Goin' ter see Professor Dumbledore," Hagrid said. "Why aren't yeh in class?"

"Cancelled," Harry said. "Why are you going to see Professor Dumbledore?"

"Dead roosters. Second one killed this term," Hagrid explained. "It's either foxes or a Blood-Suckin' Bugbear, an' I need the Headmaster's permission ter put a charm around the hen coop."

"Yeh sure yeh're all righ'? Yeh look all hot an' bothered-"

"He's going to be fine. A bunch of students believe him to be the Heir of Slytherin, just because he can speak Parseltongue. Idiots the lot of them. I'm starting to not want to catch the Heir of Slytherin. Let him kill the lot of them. Certainly wouldn't cause any major losses in the world."

"Surely you don't believe that?" Harry asked.

"What have these morons ever done for you?" Draco asked.

"They gave me a home. Nine months away from the Dursley's," Harry said. "That's all I want from them. If these attacks keep going on, they'll shut down the school. After all, it's not exactly safe right now."

"I suppose you've got a point," Draco said. "We'll keep trying to track down the Heir of Slytherin."

Draco and Harry left in the direction that Draco insisted on going. However, something changed this time, because there were still attacks. Only this time, the location was wrong. As was the number, for instead of two attacks, there were three. Nearly Headless Nick, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Astoria Greengrass. Daphne would not be happy. Then, Peeves came shooting out.

"Why, it's potty wee Potter!" cackled Peeves, knocking Draco to the Ground and Harry's glasses askew as he bounced past him. "What's Potter and Malfoy up to? Why the lurking-"

Then, Peeves spotted Justin and Nearly Headless Nick. He flipped right way up, filled his lungs, and screamed as loud as he could, "ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"

Then, like lightning, door after door flew open along the corridor and people flooded out. For several long minutes, there was a scene of confusion that Justin was in danger of being squashed. And people were standing in Nick. Harry found himself pinned against the wall as teachers shouted for quiet. Professor McGonagall came running in, followed by her own class, used her wand to set off a loud BANG, which restored silence, and ordered everyone back to their classes. No sooner had the scene cleared somewhat, than McMillan the idiot arrived, panting on the scene.

"Caught in the act!" McMillan shouted, his face stark white, finger pointed at Harry like a the pompous idiot he was. Draco rolled his eyes.

"Ancient and Most Noble House. Do mind your manners. We discovered the attacks, doesn't mean Harry caused them. In fact, the fact that we discovered the attacks is proof that we did not cause them. After all, what kind of idiot attacks someone and stays at the scene long enough for the victim to grow cold? Or long enough to be discovered? Use your head McMillan. And mind your manners, you mother must have taught you etiquette! Don't act like a barbaric Centaur!"

"That will do McMillan and Malfoy," Professor McGonagall said.

Then, Peeves broke into song.

 _"Oh Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done_

 _You're killing off students, you think it's good fun-"_

Draco had a hard time trying not to laugh.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Professor McGonagall said.

"You know the sad part Harry? Your father would have appreciated that song. Probably would have added a few words about greasy gits and lovely red hair," Draco said.

The Professors carried Justin away, and Ernie fanned Nick away. Draco would be visiting every single one of the victims in the next week. After all, he needed to investigate their condition. See if it sparks anything. Then he realized what's been bothering him for the past few hours. A Pureblood was petrified. An attack that didn't happen in the previous time line. An attack on somebody he liked. Well, liked in the original time line. Hell, Draco broke up with Pansy, for the chance to be with Astoria, and now she's petrified. For the first time ever, he was truly motivated to destroy the Diary and the monster, whatever the monster was. He had a funny feeling that he wouldn't be alone in that regard. However, at the moment, Draco and Harry were alone with Professor McGonagall.

"This way Potter," Professor McGonagall said.

"I'm coming to, by the Rule Five Article Seven, section three. When someone raised in a Muggle environment is sent to the Headmaster's office, a Pureblood is allowed to accompany them to the Headmaster's office, to act as an intermediary," Draco said.

"Fine then, come along as well," Professor McGonagall said.

They were lead to Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Lemon Drop!" McGonagall said to the statue. The statue moved, and Harry and Draco walked into the office. The statue moved behind them, sealing them in. All that was left to do, was meet with Professor Dumbledore. This would be fun.

This wasn't the first time he visited Professor Dumbledore's office. He'd made regular appearances here this year and last year. Each appearance accomplished something. Draco noticed that Harry was looking at the office in amazement, and Draco let him. Then, Draco noticed, on Dumbledore's desk, Peter Pettigrew, in animagus form. Perfect. That meant that the glass worked. Pettigrew couldn't grow at the moment. Operation Rat was truly a success. Now all that was left was to leave Fudge with no room to Fudge with the plans. No room to cover up any paperwork. No room to deny Sirius his trial. Operation Free Sirius was looking like a guaranteed success. Harry looked tempted to put the Sorting Hat on his head, when Draco stopped him.

"Forget about it," Draco said. "You're in the right house. Last year proved it."

Then, Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix burst into flames. The office door opened, and Professor Dumbledore walked into the room. Draco's secret alliance was together.

"Professor," Harry said. "Your bird- I couldn't do anything- he just caught fire."

"About time, too," Dumbledore said. "He's been looking dreadful for days; I've been telling him to get a move on."

"Fawkes is a phoenix. He is the proof that Dumbledore is a figure of light. And that I will never be," Draco said.

"Rubbish, why wouldn't you be light?" Harry asked.

"Because, in the previous time line, I used Unforgivable Curses. I killed people, and I'll keep killing people. I'm not light, but I'm trying not to be dark either. At the end of the day, trying to balance the two is the hardest thing in the world. Here's the thing, we know Harry's not the Heir of Slytherin, you know Harry's not the Heir of Slytherin. Now, let's look at the elephant in the room. Astoria Greengrass was attacked. That means that the attacks can happen to anyone. Nobody is safe. Not even the Purebloods. That makes it all the more urgent to figure out where the Chamber of Secrets is, how to open it, and how to kill the Monster of Slytherin. Oh, and destroy the Diary that's causing the attacks," Draco said.

"Did you say a Diary was causing these attacks?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes. I did. The Dark Wanker was most furious when the weapon that opened the chamber of secrets, a Diary that he entrusted my father, was destroyed by Potter. It was almost personal. I don't think I've ever seen the Dark Wanker crucio somebody with so much magical power," Draco said.

"The two of you may leave. Just remember, there are adults who will help in a pinch," Dumbledore said.

"Not for what we've got to do," Draco said. "After all, when Potter needed help, he never looked farther than his closest friends. Neville Longbottom, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, and Ginerva Weasley. Unfortunately, I've cut the Weasley influence from his life, so he has two less allies should war come about."

"Not from what I hear, Draco. You don't think I know about your political alliance. Five allies indeed," Dumbledore said. "Now, go off to your classes."

As soon as Harry and Draco walked out of Dumbledore's office, they were cornered by Daphne Greengrass.

"I want in," Daphne said.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I know that you're doing something to find the Heir of Slytherin. I want in," Daphne said.

"Why? You're a Slytherin," Harry said.

"It's because of Astoria isn't it?" Draco said. "You want to avenge Astoria. You're not the only one. I remember her from the times our fathers ate lunch together. It was impossible not to like her. You're in, as long as you don't mind breaking every rule on the books, and possibly against your Slytherin morals."

"I don't mind. What do you want me to do?" Daphne said.

"All we need is the password to the Slytherin common room," Draco said.

"Why?" Daphne asked.

"Because, Harry and Hermione have this mad theory that Nott's the Heir of Slytherin. The only way they'll believe that he's not and start hunting for the actual Heir of Slytherin, is if he tells Crabbe and Goyle that he's not the Heir of Slytherin."

"So, Polyjuice Potion," Daphne said.

"Yes. That's the plan," Draco said.

"It's a silly plan, but it'll work. The password is Pureblood. I trust that your father told you where the Common Room is." Daphne said.

"Of course, he didn't want his only son to go into Slytherin at a disadvantage," Draco said.

"I believe it's best that I don't know where the Polyjuice Potion is being brewed. You know, plausible deniability. Important to have if you're a Slytherin," Daphne said.

"Oh, and could you get to proving that Harry is no more related to Salazar than I am?" Draco said.

"No problem. I trust that means that I don't have to go to the next meeting of the Great Alliance?" Daphne asked.

"You don't. Oh, and get Tracy involved to. If the Alliance asks where you're at, I'll tell them that you've decided to put all your effort in helping us avenge your sister."

"Thanks."

With that, Daphne walked away. Then, Draco slapped Harry in the back of his head.

"What's the matter with you? Haven't I told you that you can't judge all Slytherins because of Nott's antics? You've ruined the good impression you gave during the Great Alliance meeting! Be nicer to her. She's one of the two people I'm choosing between," Draco said.

"What?" Harry asked. That seemed to be Harry's favorite word around Draco.

"You remember, I have to the one to chooses the next Lady Potter. I'm currently deciding between Daphne and Tracy. So be nice to both of them. One of them is going to be your wife," Draco said.

The double attack on Nick and Justin turned the nervousness into genuine panic. He was lucky to arrange a time for the Great Alliance to meet, even if it would be short two members today. He hoped it would only be short two members. They'd be doing the difficult work of proving that Harry was not the Heir of Slytherin, so that Draco could do the difficult task of finding the Heir of Slytherin and finding out what the Monster is, and where the Chamber is.

Luckily, the members of the Great Alliance showed up. Neville Longbottom, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy. Let the meeting begin.

"For those of you who are wondering where Tracy and Daphne are, I've excused them, as I've already told them what I'm telling you. They're currently by Astoria's bedside. Devastated by the loss. Like we should all be. A relative of our Great Alliance was attacked yesterday. A member of the Great Alliance's reputation, in shambles. This Chamber of Secrets business is officially this our Alliance's problem to solve.

First, we need to prove that Harry is not the Heir of Slytherin. It'll be difficult, as Harry is a Half-Blood, so we cannot ignore the possibility of Squibs in his family tree. We have to prove that he is no closer related to Salazar than I am. I already told this to Daphne. She and Tracy will be working on it. Hannah and Susan, I need you to figure out who the Heir of Slytherin is. The Heir of Slytherin might be possessing an innocent student into doing their dirty work too, so don't solely focus on the students at this school. Neville, figure out what the Monster of Slytherin is, and Harry and I will have the most difficult task. We will find the Chamber of Secrets. Something that not even Dumbledore has ever found. Any questions?" Draco asked.

"Just one, I'll be out of the school during the holidays. I won't have access to the library. How will I find out who the Heir of Slytherin is?" Hannah asked.

"Go to the magical records. Locate Salazar Slytherin. Find his children. His children's children. I want a complete family tree of Salazar Slytherin, including Squibs You run into a Squib, go to the Muggle world, find him. Find his descendents. I want Slytherin's complete family tree, from father to son, and I want it as soon as possible. It's the only way we're going to know who the Heir of Slytherin is," Draco said. "And we don't have time for leisure either. Attacks can happen at any time. And to anyone now. Best be quick, but thorough."

"Why did choose to have the people you chose do the jobs you wanted them to do?" Susan asked. "Because, I'm playing by your strengths. Neville, you know Herbology, which can be applied to the study of magical monsters. I intend to kill the monster, but I'd prefer to know what I'm trying to kill. That way, I know how to kill it. Susan and Hannah, you are related to Susan Bones and Rosemary Abbot.

 _(A/N: Made up the name for Hannah's mother. Probably not accepted as canon.)_ That means you have access to the family trees of the Department of Geneology. Their job is to trace geneology back to the man you intend to seek. Combined with the power of Muggle Geneology, we should be able to trace them back to Salazar Slytherin. But, only you can. Tracy and Daphne have the more complicated task of proving that Harry is no closer related to Slytherin than his closest relative, me. It is a task that's daunting and difficult for the most cunning Slytherin, and thus, should only be attempted by the most cunning Slytherin. As for finding an impossible to find Chamber? There's trouble in that Chamber, and according to Malfoy's First Law, if there's trouble in the same continent as Harry Potter, it will inevitably find Harry Potter. Therefore, only Harry and I can find that Chamber. I now call this meeting to a close."

Draco left before anybody could raise any more questions. He was closely followed by Harry.

"These next few days are crucial. The students will be terrified. They'll be racing each other to sign up to leave for the Holidays. We cannot sign that sheet. We have to do what Potter and the Weasel did last time around. The idiot method. They might have learned something important through their making of the Polyjuice Potion. Don't know what it could be, but they might have learned something," Draco said.

Then, Draco took a dreamless draught, and went to bed. It felt good to be doing something.


	13. Draco Has A Crabby Christmas

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

A/N:

Chapter Thirteen: Draco Has A Crabby Christmas (But At Least He Doesn't Look Like Goyle)

The triple attacks on Justin, Nick, and Astoria sent the school into a panic. To be honest, nobody talked about Justin's attack. All the talk was about Nick and Astoria. It proved that nothing was safe. Not a pureblood, and not a ghost. There was almost a stampede to book seats on the Hogwarts Express. Draco knew that there would only be eleven children in the school. Draco, Harry, Hermione, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, Weatherby, Penelope Clearwater, Gred and Forge Weasley, and Daphne. Did Gred and Forge count as one person or two? After all, one was never without the other. They shared identical sense of humor. They looked identical. They acted identical. They could swap and nobody would notice. Draco suspected that they sometimes did exactly that. But there was exactly the number of Slytherins staying this Christmas vacation to finish the Polyjuice Potion. Draco made sure that Daphne remained there, so that they could improve upon their plan. Daphne would teach Hermione how to act like her. Talk like her. Be the Ice Queen of Slytherin. Draco ensured it by invoking the need to avenge Astoria. A need that Draco shared.

At last the term ended, and Draco woke up to Hermione in his room. She was trying to wake Harry up. She shook him. She played some song. And odd song. Sounded dark and ominous. (A/N: Darth Vader's Theme)

` "You're not technically supposed to be here," Draco said. "The fact that you are, means that the Polyjuice Potion is done."

"All we need to do is add the hairs," Hermione said.

"We have a volunteer from Slytherin. Daphne Greengrass has allowed us to borrow her hair. As long as she steers clear of the Slytherin common room, as she says she will, you'll be good for an hour," Draco said. "Plus, she's staying over Christmas."

"Are you sure it's ready?" Harry asked.

"Absolutely. What I want to know is, how do you know Daphne will let us borrow her hair?"

"Because she already gave it to me," Draco said, pulling out a jar. In that jar, was a single hair. A single blonde hair. Daphne's hair. "Now all we need is Crabbe and Goyle."

"Let's open our gifts, and form our plan to get the hairs," Draco said.

"Good idea," Harry said.

All in all, they all had satisfactory gifts. Draco had his second straight year without presents from his father, but got a useful gift from Dumbledore. It was a Scrying Bowl. Very useful, knick your finger on the bowl, and it will point you towards danger. Very useful in his line of work. Sadly, when he nicked his finger on it to try to find the Chamber of Secrets, the blood drop when around in circles, which meant that Danger was all around them. So, naturally that meant that it had to be a large area under the school. Not very helpful. Draco could see why Dumbledore gave it to him. Useful in Draco's quest, but utterly useless in the current situation. Other than that, it was all a bunch of candy and such. A couple of Chocolate Frogs. He'd started collecting the cards last year, and this time around, he got Nicolas Flamel and Morgana Le Faye. When he showed them the Nicolas Flamel card, Harry and Hermione groaned, and wished they'd had that card last year. Would have saved them a lot of time.

After they opened their gifts, the went down to dinner, and no one can feel miserable at a Christmas at Hogwarts. Not even somebody who had the essence of Crabbe to look foward to. The only consolation that he had was that Harry was going to look like Goyle. The Great Hall looked splendid as per usual this time of year. The dozen Christmas trees made a grand reappearance. Thick holly and mistletoe was crisscrossing the ceiling, which meant that Draco would have to be careful where he stepped. Enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, thankfully, from the ceiling. Warm and Dry Snow was always Draco's favorite. Pleasant to look at, but didn't make his hands hurt.

Dumbledore led them through some of his favorite carols, Hagrid singing louder and louder, the more eggnog he drank. Somebody should really stop supplying him with alcohol. It was really annoying. Nott was acting annoying about how Harry had no proper family, like anybody needed reminding about that. Hopefully, Draco could gain some much needed blackmail material during the interrogation. But, likely they wouldn't. Draco was just glad he wouldn't have to drink essence of Nott. He had a funny it would be a pale imitation of Draco's own essence.

Then, Hermione pulled them aside, to finalize their plans for the evening.

"We still need a bit of the people you're changing into," Hermione said. "And, obviously, it'll be best if you can get something of Crabbe and Goyle, they're Nott's best friends."

"You mean his hired enforcers. Hired hands. Mercenaries. Body guards. Minions. Servants. Et cetera et cetera. He might tell them everything, but they are not his friends," Draco corrected.

"Like I was saying, as they're his minions, he'll tell them anything. We just need to make sure that the real Crabbe and Goyle don't burst into the room while we're interrogating him."

"Got it handled," Draco said. "All we need is food laced with a Sleeping Potion of some sort. They think with their stomachs. Then, Daphne will help us contain Crabbe and Goyle. Then, she'll stand watch, making sure that nobody finds Crabbe and Goyle, nor does Crabbe and Goyle wake up too early and walk into the interrogation. Simple as that."

"Are you sure Daphne Greengrass is willing to do this?" Hermione said.

"Her sister was attacked by the Monster of Slytherin. We're interrogating your lead suspect. If there is a chance of getting justice for her sister, she's going to help us out any way she can," Draco said. "I already extracted a magical oath from her, given willingly. She breaks the oath, she loses her magic, and believe me, loss of magic, for Purebloods is a fate worse than death."

"Are you sure this plan's going to work?" Harry said.

"Time traveler remember? This is going to work spiffingly. And, when Nott clears himself, we can focus on the real issue. Finding out what the Monster of Slytherin is, where the Chamber is, and god be willing, finding that damn Diary. Find it, and we'll be able to stop any further attacks. Do you understand me. We just need into the Ravenclaw Common Room, Girl's Dormitory. In other words, fat chance in hell. Sometimes, I wish Rowena Ravenclaw was less paranoid."

"Even so, you told me that Harry and Weasley went to interrogate you last time around. We have to do the same. They might have found out something important. Something that led them to the Chamber of Secrets," Hermione said.

"That's the only reason I've consented to take this bloody potion. Had to take it five times in the original time line. Didn't like it any one of them," Draco said.

"Let's just steal these hairs and be on our way," Harry said.

"Allons-y," Draco said, walking out. Hermione walked to the kitchens. When she came back, she was holding two cakes. She injected both of them with Sleeping Draught.

"Just make sure this is where Crabbe and Goyle will find them," Hermione said.

"Leave that to me," Draco said.

Draco walked away, and placed them on a windowsill. He knew that Crabbe and Goyle were two of the thickest baboons who have ever walked the planet, and he was taking advantage of it. Did he feel a bit guilty about it? Not at all. In the last time, Crabbe tried to use the Killing Curse on Granger. Goyle used the Cruciatus on first years. Both of them made Draco sick. He'd torture them a bit first, make their lives a miserable hell. Then, he'd kill them, and he'd relish it. Did it make him dark? Maybe, but with those two, Draco didn't mind a little dark.

As soon as Crabbe and Goyle came into view, Draco moved out of the way. He watched as these two ate the cakes, with looks of stupid satisfaction, and then fell over. Fast acting Sleeping Draught. Hopefully enough for two hours. He then pulled out his wand, and used a silent Wingardium Leviosa, and levitated them to the cupboard that Daphne was meeting him at. He threw them in the cupboard a bit harder than he needed to, but then again, these two deserved it. He then ripped a hair from Crabbe and a hair from Goyle, and left Daphne to guard them. He handed Daphne a book to occupy her time. It was a new book that he knew she read several times in the original time line. The Art of Modern Diplomacy by Will U. Roolwhirld. According to original time line Astoria Greengrass, it was Daphne's favorite book, but got it in her third year.

"Enjoy the book. Tell me what you think of it. And Merry Yuletide," Draco said.

"Thanks. But I didn't get you anything," Daphne said.

"Wrong, you gave us a chance to properly interrogate a suspect. Sadly, I doubt that he's the Heir of Slytherin. But sadly, I cannot prove that he's not the Heir of Slytherin, and I need you focused on proving Harry's innocence. So, interrogating Nott it is. Just remember to stay here. The last thing we need is two Daphne Greengrasses in the same room at the same time."

"I know. Not my first time around the block. I've lived my entire life playing the game remember?"

"I know. You were always the second best," Draco said. "Which reminds me, what's your opinion on Harry?"

"He's interesting. I assumed he'd be a glory hound. I thought he'd be different," Daphne said.

"So did I," Draco said. "I allowed my preconcieved notions on what Harry would be like to step to the side, so I could make proper evaluations based on factual information."

Draco walked away, leaving Daphne to sink her teeth in a new book. Then, Draco met up with the others.

"I got the hairs," Draco said.

"Good. Let's get to Myrtle's Bathroom. We need to finish the potion," Hermione said.

They went to Myrtle's bathroom, and finished the potion. They went to different stalls, and drank the potion. They changed clothing to Slytherin Robes. Draco and Harry put on Crabbe and Goyle sized shoes. Then, they walked out, looking and sounding like Crabbe, Goyle, and Daphne. Draco was very Crabbey about this development, and now he was dropping puns. That was when you knew it was as bad as it could be. Draco then stopped, turned towards Hermione.

"Hermione, Daphne and Crabbe would never walk in at the same time. She holds herself above the ranks of Nott's grunts. Therefore, you need to go to the common room first. We'll enter it at a different time. After all, Crabbe and Goyle were often late on Christmas. Pigging out at the feast. Irritated me, because I had something funny I wanted to show them. Well, funny to that version of me."

Draco talked Hermione through to getting in the dungeons. Then, he informed her that the password is pure-blood. Then, Draco and Harry walked off. They had acts to pull off, while Hermione walked towards the Slytherin common room. The game was on.

Once a satisfactory amount of time had passed, Draco and Harry walked towards the Slytherin Common Room, where they first bumped into Penelope Clearwater, the Ravenclaw Prefect, then they bumped into Weatherby. Well, in the original timeline, they ended up married, and got out of Potion Queen Weasley's clutches. So, he supposed he respected Penelope Clearwater and Weatherby a little bit. Especially if they were already trying to get out of her house. However, he had to act the part of a Suspicious and stupid Slytherin.

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked stupidly.

"That, is none of your business. It's Crabbe isn't it?" Weatherby said rather pompously.

"What of it?" Draco said, still talking slower than normal, and as stupid as possible. He was also quoting the instruction manual, _"Minioning For Idiots"._ The guide for a better minion. Rule One: Deflect all questions about yourself. If it doesn't regard your master, it isn't important. Sure, Crabbe couldn't read, but Draco knew that Nott bought him the idiot version.

"Now, get off to your dormitories," said Weatherby sternly. "It's not safe to go wandering around dark corridors these days."

"You are," Draco said.

"I am a prefect. Nothing's going to attack me," Weatherby.

Then, Draco forced himself to say the one thing he hated saying above all other things.

"Mudbloods and Blood Traitors Weasley. Mudbloods and Blood Traitors."

Then, Nott walked up to them.

"There you are, have you been pigging out in the Great Hall all this time?" Nott asked.

"Sorry Master," Draco forced himself to say. "Won't happen again."

"It better not," Nott said. "I've been looking for you. I want to show you something funny. And what are you doing here Weasley?"

"You might want to show a bit more respect to a school prefect!" He said. "I don't like your attitude."

Then, Nott sneered, and motioned for Draco and Harry to follow him. Like good little minions, they followed without question.

"That Peter Weasley, I've noticed him sneaking around a lot lately. I bet I know what he's up to. He thinks he'll catch Slytherin's Heir single-handed. But then, I suppose, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. If you know what I mean," Nott said.

"Well said boss," Draco said. "What's the new password again?"

"Pureblood," Nott said. The doors opened. Sitting in a chair in the common room, was Hermione Granger, disguised as Daphne Greengrass. Nott walked into the common room, followed closely by Draco and Harry.

"Wait here." Nott said, motioning two empty chairs. "I'll go and get it. My father's just sent it to me."

Draco knew what he was going to be getting Harry, so it would be humorous for Draco to see the headline again. Then, Draco remembered that last time around, the Ministry raided Malfoy manor around this time of the year. He was thankful he hid the Dark Merchandise with the other Dark items in his father's secret chamber. He had a funny feeling it was the Weasel who told Arthur Weasley about the secret chamber. The chamber that would be his one day. All he needed was to wait until the opportune moment to strike.

While Draco was musing Operation Lucius, Nott returned, and handed him a newspaper clipping. It basically said that Arthur Weasley was fined fifty galleons for the magic car. All in all, very funny indeed. He actually laughed at Weasley's misfortune.

"And Lucius Malfoy's house was raided, though nothing was found. Strange, I could have sworn Lucius had some very valuable Dark Merchandise. My father also has quite a few valuable dark artifacts in a Secret Chamber behind the furnace in the cellar."

Bingo. Give Arthur Weasley someone else to go after. The less time he's going after Lucius, the less likely he'll find Draco's arsenal.

"I'm surprised the Daily Prophet hasn't reported all the attacks yet," Nott said. "I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it all up. He'll be sacked if it doesn't stop soon. Father said Dumbledore's the worst thing to happen to this school. He loves Mudbloods. A decent headmaster would never've let slime like Creevey in."

Then, Nott started taking pictures with an imaginary camera and started doing a cruel, but accurate depiction of Colin Creepy. Draco didn't mind, because he didn't like Creepy himself. "'Potter, can I have your picture, Potter? Can I have your autograph? Can I lick your shoes, please, Potter?' What's the matter with you two."

Draco and Harry laughed. Draco's a little more genuine than Harry's. So far, Nott was following the script nearly word for word. Nott was satisfied, after all, Crabbe and Goyle were always slow on the uptake. Slow to catch the joke.

"Saint Potter, the Mudblood's friend. And that idiot Draco Malfoy. They've got no proper wizard feeling, or they wouldn't go around with that jumped up Mudblood Granger. And people think he's Slytherin's Heir!"

"Maybe, Malfoy's playing some strategem, or some game," Hermione said. "You have to remember that he was always better than us at playing the game."

"I suppose that's true. I just wish I knew who the Heir of Slytherin is," Nott said petulantly. "I could help them!"

"Help them? You want to help the bastard that attacked my sister?" Hermione said, pretending to be Daphne, and doing a bang up good job at it.

"Right, he attacked Astoria didn't he? Sorry, wasn't thinking Greengrass," Nott said.

Draco witnessed Harry and Hermione's mutual jaws drop. Draco could guess what they were thinking. Nott apologize? However, it wasn't an unusual experience last time around, Draco was quite apologetic when he needed to be. And, considering, Draco'd wanted Astoria instead of Pansy last time around, there was a lot of contact with her father, a lot of apologizing to Daphne.

"You must have some idea who's behind it all..." Harry said, fishing.

"You know I haven't! How many times do I have to tell you! And father won't tell me anything about the last time the Chamber was opened either. Of course it was fifty years ago, so it was before his time, but he knows all about it. And he says it was kept very quiet, and it'll look suspicious if I know too much about it. But, I do know one thing, the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died. So, it's only a matter of time before one of them gets killed this time... I only hope it's Granger."

Draco was prepared to leave, but Harry had a few questions.

"Do you know if the person who opened the Chamber last time was caught?" Harry asked. Good question.

"Oh, yeah... whoever it was was expelled," said Nott. "They're probably in Azkaban right now."

"Azkaban?" Harry asked puzzled. Great, it was lucky that Goyle was a moron, because otherwise, that would have blown their cover.

"Azkaban. The wizarding prison. How thick can you get Goyle?" Hermione said.

"Honestly, if you were any slower, you'd be going backwards," Draco said.

Then, something started happening. Draco's feet shrank. Hermione's watch beeped. It was time to go.

"I have a stomache ache, Boss. I'm going to Madame Pomphrey's."

"Go give those Mudbloods a good kick for me," Nott said.

Immediately, Draco and Harry rushed out. Soon after that, Hermione walked out. They ran towards the Girl's bathroom. Got out of the Slytherin robes, and into their fitting Gryffindor robes. Then, they left the bathroom, and Draco walked to the cupboard where Daphne was keeping watch. Draco knocked three times, then two times, the seven times. Daphne opened the door.

"How did it go?" Daphne asked.

"About how I expected it to go. Now, though, their focus will be on trying to bust the actual Heir of Slytherin, finding the Chamber, and killing the Monster. However, it wasn't a complete bust. Nott made a critical error. He told me how to make his life more difficult. Apparently his father keeps his dark artifacts in a secret chamber behind the bowler room in the cellar. A tip about that will keep Arthur Weasley busy, so he doesn't go about discovering my own treasury of Dark Artifacts. Plus, it'll embarrass a potential political rival. Bonus. Now anything interesting happen for you?" Draco said.

"The book you gave me is brilliant," Daphne said. "Crabbe and Goyle were out like a log the entire time, so it was lucky that you had such a good book."

"Good, now we need to give Crabbe a stomache ache, so that Madam Pomphrey will be able to say that Goyle took Crabbe to the medical wing. Oh, and that book, you can keep it," Draco said. "I bought it for you after all."

Then, Draco walked out of the room, leaving a stunned Daphne Greengrass behind him. Step one of convince Daphne Greengrass to be the next Lady Potter, completed. That step had to be convince her that sometimes, a Gryffindor male was better, in many ways, to a Slytherin male. The next step would be to convince her that the best Gryffindor male in the world was his best friend, Harry Potter. Now all that was left was to convince Harry that he didn't want a superficial Gryffindor Girl. He wanted a strong cunning Slytherin woman.

Of course, knowing Harry, he'd end up falling in love with a weak willed Gryffindor girl. Marry her after beating the Dark Wanker. Name the third kid Albus Severus Potter. Obviously high when he did that. Draco would be working very hard to make sure that never happened. Very, very hard to save a poor kid from having an awful moniker.

After shuddering a bit from that thought process, Draco went back to the dorm room. Now, they had to find a new lead, or else they'd never find the Chamber or the monster. Draco had lots of work to do.


	14. Oh My God The Diary

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

A/N: Short Chapter, but a necessary short one.

Chapter Fourteen: Oh My God The Diary!

The next few weeks, Draco was exasperated. He was exasperated because Harry just kept on moaning about how Nott wasn't the Heir of Slytherin. How he was foolish to believe he could have been. Their talks didn't seem to uncover any knew leads, and they seemed to go in circles. Draco was certain that this all seemed familiar to him. That he'd read about a monster that did something very similar to this before, but seeing as he could not for the life of him remember what that monster was, or for that matter when he read it, he could not view it in a pensieve. The main problem was it had to be ancient. Had to live for thousands of years on little food. Possibly hibernating for eons. That made his search nearly impossible, as he uncovered no known monsters that lived that long. Draco was about to give up, when one day, a gift from god fell into Myrtle's bathroom.

It happened on Valentines day, actually. Draco remembered it as a day of ugly cupids and singing Valentines. Luckily for them all, this was a different Lockhart. A Lockhart who had entirely too much on his plate trying to figure out who was attacking students. By this point, Lockhart had interviewed every student fifth year and higher. He, like much of the adult populace, seemed to be running on the erroneous belief that the perpetrator had to be an older student. However, he'd already cleared all the teachers and the fifth years and older. Next week Lockhart would be beginning to interview the fourth years. It was a long arduous process that he had to squeeze in between planning lessons and teaching classes. In other words, Lockhart had no time to be organizing Valentines Day merriments. Lucky too, or else Draco would have to endure that silly song again. That one written by Weaslette. The one that was given to Potter.

The Alliance had nothing to report. Neville was coming up with dead end after dead end on the monster. He had a five hundred page list of monsters it could not possibly be. Daphne and Tracy were finding it very difficult to prove that Harry was not the Heir of Slytherin. They kept saying it could very well be him, though they doubted it, and they'd keep looking into the matter for them. Susan and Hannah said that they'd traced Slytherin's line to a Merope Gaunt, who might have had a kid, but never got the kid registered with the Ministry. Nor could they prove that she even had a kid. Every other branch of Slytherin's family either hit dead ends, or was so insignificant that the odds of the Heir of Slytherin coming from that family were minimal. However, they traced the family trees anyway, and discovered that, the Heir of Slytherin could very well be Harry, and it could very well be Draco, or any number of students here. Draco, Harry, and Hermione have not found the Chamber yet, though they'd keep looking for it.

The secret alliance was having more luck on the stuff that mattered long term. Several letters were written and rewritten. Edited and reedited. Picked apart until both Dumbledore and Draco were absolutely convinced that the letters were perfect. Those letters would be let out on strategically chosen dates, meant to tie Fudge's hands, and force him to act.

Gringotts reported that his recent requests have been followed through, making Draco Malfoy a majority owner of the Daily Prophet. Interesting information, that would guarantee that those letters would make it to the intended target. That meant that he now had a great deal of control over the propoganda mill. Fantastic for Draco's long term plans.

All in all, Draco was in a pretty good mood. A mood that would soon become even better when it happened. They were walking down the hall when they heard it.

" _Even more work for me! Mopping all night, like I haven't got enough to do! No, this is the final straw, I'm going to Dumbledore-"_

Then, they saw Filch bursting past them in a fury. They went to investigate, and they saw what Filch was so pissed about. Filch must have been manning his usual lookout post, as they found themselves where Mrs. Norris was attacked. They saw a great flood of water stretched over half the corridor, and it looked as if it were still seeping from under the door of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Now, that Filch was far enough that they wouldn't hear his shouting, they went into the room.

"What's up Myrtle?" Draco asked.

"Who's that?" glugged Myrtle miserably. "Come to throw something else at me?"

"Why would we throw something at you?" Harry asked.

"Don't ask me," Myrtle shouted. "Here I am, minding my own business, and somebody thinks it's funny to throw a book at me..."

 _Throw a book at her?_ Draco thought. _Surely nothing that lucky could happen. Surely my week can't get that amazingly brilliant! Surely that's against some law, carved out of a stone tablet. Draco Malfoy cannot have such amazing luck. Nothing Draco wants can ever be handed to him, he has to cunningly get it. Oh well, it can't be too much to ask for._

"Book? What book? Can I see it?" Draco asked.

"It's right over there," Myrtle said, pointing at THE DIARY!

"Guys, it's the Diary! We've got it! Best day ever!" Draco cheered.

"What Diary?" Harry asked.

" _The_ Diary. The one that's causing all of this. The Diary of T. M. Riddle. Let's get it, and get out of here. We've done it. We've got the Diary."

"If we've got it, then surely we could use it to find the Chamber and the monster."

"No. We can't risk it. It could possess us. Force us to open the Chamber and unleash the monster."

"Yes, but conversely, if one of us starts following the other, we can find the entrance to the Chamber. Maybe find the monster, and kill it."

"No, if we find the Chamber, and ultimately enter it, we'll be faced with a monster that we cannot kill."

"We promised Daphne that we'd avenge her sister. That means killing the monster."

"Yes. I know. I'm working on it. Plus, this Diary should probably be properly destroyed as well. But until the day comes that we can enter the Chamber, knowing what we're going up against, and ultimately able to kill the monster, I'm locking the Diary away."

"But what if we can get answers from the Diary?" Harry asked.

"We're not opening the Diary and that's final!" Draco said.

Not counting those spats, this was the worst fight Harry and Draco had ever had. However, even that fight wasn't enough to dampen Draco's spirits. He had the Diary. He knew that the attacks would stop. Or at least he hoped they would. Of course knowing his luck, it would go missing, and the rest of the attacks would go as scheduled. Draco would take care to prevent it's disappearance. He'd put it in his anti-theft trunk. At the thief, unless he had a key. Only Draco and Harry had keys. Thus, as long as the Diary remained in the trunk, it would be safe. Or, so he thought. For he had no way of knowing that that night, Harry took the Diary from his trunk. Or that Harry was stupid enough to write in it, until he walked into the room, and saw Harry closing the book, looking pale and stunned.

"What was it?" Draco asked.

"It was Hagrid. I saw T.M. Riddle's memory. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets last time around."

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard! Last time around, Potter was able to prove that Hagrid did not open the Chamber."

"Really?" Harry asked skeptically.

"A far more likely scenario would be Riddle framing Hagrid. In fact, I'm willing to bet that Riddle is the Heir of Slytherin," Draco said. "Besides, nobody could claim that Hagrid hates Muggle-borns. You know what? Let's talk to Hagrid if you're so convinced that Hagrid is the Heir."


	15. Things Go From Bad To Worse

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

A/N:

Chapter Fifteen: Things Go From Bad To Worse

Proving Hagrid's innocence would be difficult, given Hagrid's love of dangerous creatures. Hagrid owned a Cerberus named Fluffy and swore that a baby Norwegian Ridgeback named Norbert was the cutest thing to walk the earth. It wouldn't be a stretch. Hell, if Draco hadn't known Hagrid's innocence, Draco probably wouldn't have doubted it for a second. If he heard that there was a monster in Hogwarts, he probably would have paid an arm and a leg to get a good glimpse of it, and then he'd probably have tried to put a leash on it.

But, thankfully, the attacks stopped for a while. It had been nearly four months since Justin, Astoria, and Nick had been petrified. Draco placed the credit on the unbelievably lucky retrieval of the Diary. Things were slowly going back to normal. Peeves got bored of his "Oh, Potter, you rotter," song. McMillan politely asked Harry to hand him a bucket of toadstools in Herbology once. Plus, the Mandrakes were finally ready. Soon, they'd be able to find out what the monster was.

However, this wasn't in Draco's mind at the moment. Why? Because Draco had to choose new electives. It was a matter that both Draco and Hermione took very seriously. After all, what they took could effect what they would do in their future. Draco already took Care For Magical Creatures, and Potter was never in danger in that class, and Draco hated that class, so Draco didn't really need that class. Draco knew that Muggle Studies was a pointless subject, so he really didn't need that class either. However, Divination was worse than useless. That meant that if he didn't want to waste his time, he would have to take Arithmacy. Now, the other time slot was much easier, as the only thing he wanted to take for that one was Ancient Runes. Sure he already knew them, but a refresher course could come in handy, and he could use some independent study.

Harry simply took everything Draco took, which meant that his workload would be massive. It also meant that it would be harder to get Harry thinking about the future, as he wanted Harry to be open minded when Dumbledore decided to tell Harry about the prophecy. However, Harry insisted on the classes Draco was taking, that way, if he was hats at them, at least there was someone friendly to help him out. Draco could respect that logic, even if it meant that Harry would be working very, very hard next year.

Also, Gryffindor's next Quidditch Game would be against Hufflepuff. Oliver Wood was training his team every available opportunity. It was getting a little ridiculous. It was after one of those training sessions that Draco's good mood vanished. Somebody ransacked the Dorm Room. The Diary was gone! Damn it, damn it, damn it! How could Draco be so stupid! Of course Harry would take it out of the chest without putting it back into the chest! Of course it would go missing! That was the Harry Potter Luck right there. Nothing can go right. Ever! Weaslette probably saw the Diary with Harry. She probably panicked, thinking that the Diary would tell Harry that she was the one opening the Chamber of Secrets. Draco really needed to get that Diary back. However, for now, he'd have to put it out of his mind, as he had no proof that it was Weaslette who stole the Diary. He was just assuming it was her, but it could be anybody in Hogwarts.

The day after the theft of the Diary by unknown entity, they were taunted by perfect Quidditch conditions. Extra damning considering that Draco wasn't even on the team. However, on the way to the pitch, Harry stopped.

"That voice! I heard it again! Didn't you?" Harry asked.

Draco didn't hear it, but then again, that voice preceded most of the attacks. Then, Hermione clapped a hand to her forehead.

"Oh my god. I think I've figured it out! I've got to go to the library!" Hermione said, running off.

"What did she figure out?" Harry asked.

"Hopefully something about the Heir of Slytherin, the Monster of Slytherin, or Slytherin's Secret Chamber. Anyways, you better get going. It's nearly eleven, and I don't want Gryffindor to lose to Hufflepuff because of a forfeit. It would be embarrassing," Draco said.

With that, Harry ran to the tower. Draco was worried sick. Hopefully, Hermione wouldn't get petrified this time, but there was nothing he could do. He'd never be able to beat her to the library, and if he did, then he might get petrified to, or worse, he might get killed. At least Hermione was guaranteed petrification at worst. Then, he could at least avenge her with the knowledge that he'd see her again soon. If he got petrified or killed, then their only hope of vengeance would be the Suicidal One. Draco did not like those odds. Draco went to the stands, and couldn't bring himself to applaud, when the teams went out. Then, it happened. Professor McGonagall came running into the pitch carrying a megaphone.

"This match has been cancelled," Professor McGonagall said. "All students are to make their way back to the common rooms where their Heads of House will give them further information. As quickly as you please. Potter and Malfoy, you better come with me."

Most of the students, particularly those in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were grumbling about the match being cancelled. Others looked worried. A few, like Nott, looked hopeful. Probably hoping for another attack.

Draco and Harry followed Professor McGonagall, and they were being led to the Hospital Wing, and Draco knew that it happened exactly as it had last time. There was a new attack. A double attack. One of them, Penelope Clearwater, Weatherby's future wife, and the other, Hermione Granger. Draco's heart filled with ice. Rage filled his heart.

"Hermione," Draco groaned. They could probably hear Draco's rage.

"They were found near the library," Professor McGonagall said. "I don't suppose you can explain this? It was on the floor next to them."

It was a small circular mirror. Suddenly, Draco knew what the Monster of Slytherin was. He knew how it was getting about. Suddenly, everything made sense. The fleeing spiders. The murdered roosters. The petrifications. The petrified Ghost. The useless scrying bowl. Everything made sense.

In response to Professor McGonagall's question, both Harry and Draco shook their heads. Harry was probably telling the truth. Draco, however, was lying. He had to keep the Professor's away from this. They'd only get in the way of his revenge. He's let the Alliance know what was up, and then, he'd destroy the monster of Slytherin. All that was left to do was locating the Chamber, of which there were very few possibilities. All he had to do was locate the Chamber and the damn Diary. Then, he'd make T.M. Riddle pay for daring to harm Hermione Granger. That was a promise.

But, first, there was something that they needed to do. One final bit of proof they needed. And, to pull it off, all they needed was an invisibility cloak. Luckily for them, they had one. They'd extract that proof tonight.

In Gryffindor tower, the Gryffindor's were packed to the brim as Professor McGonagall restricted their access to the castle. Draco suspected that it would be the safe thing to do. Draco wasn't listening as he was trying to figure out the attack pattern. The attacked victims were Mrs. Norris, Colin Creepy, Justin Fitch-Fletchley, Astoria Greengrass, Nearly Headless Nick, Hermione Granger, and Penelope Clearwater. Three Muggleborns. One Pureblood. One Half-Blood. One cat. One Ghost. One Hufflepuff, One Ravenclaw, Two Gryffindor's and a Gryffindor Ghost, and One Slytherin. Oh, and a cat. Nothing to link them together.

The only theory Draco was having was that the Diary had possessed a crazed fangirl. Mrs. Norris easily could have been to get back at Filch. Colin creeped Harry out and took pictures of him in the mud. Justin insulted Harry's dignity. Hermione Granger was a female that was close to Harry. It was possible that Astoria, Nick, and Clearwater were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Or, the second person to get hold of the Diary just had a grudge against Hermione because she made them look so stupid. That was also a definite possibility. Or, he could have been a blood purist. But then again, Penelope Clearwater was a Half-Blood. Possibly in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then, he heard Professor McGonagall urge whoever knew anything at all about these attacks to come foward. Draco would, just not until he had everything. And he wouldn't be doing it to McGonagall, or Dumbledore, or Severus, or Flitwick. No, the only professor he'd be telling anything to, when he discovered the entrance to the Chamber would be Lockhart, who would serve as a useful, think first attack second backup.

"What do you suggest we do?" Harry asked, sounding desperate to be doing something. Anything. No matter how useless it ultimately was.

"I want to talk to Hagrid. There are some questions I have," Draco said.

"You know what the Monster is, don't you?" Harry asked.

"Maybe. I just need one piece of information to get it confirmed. But my theory fits everything I could think of. As soon as we speak to Hagrid, I should have enough information to break this whole case wide open."

"What are you going to ask him?"

"An obvious question really. One I think the Professor's overlooked in it's obviousness," Draco replied.

"What question?" Harry asked annoyed.

"You'll see. I want you to be as amazed by Hermione's brilliance as I am. She layed the groundwork for everything I figured out. All by holding a mirror."

"What? You understood what that mirror meant, yet didn't tell the teachers!" Harry said outraged.

"Yes. Here's why. They'd stop us from getting our revenge. I intend to kill the Monster of Slytherin, and destroy the Diary. First, I have to find the Diary."

"When do we leave?" Harry asked.

"We leave tonight," Draco said.

Draco and Harry waited until their dorm mates were asleep. Took a relatively short amount of time. They then put on the invisibility cloak, and went to Hagrid's hut, a practice they'd done so often that they didn't have any difficulties at all. They walked up to the door, and knocked. Then they announced their presence. Draco refused his Boiling water and fruit cake, as did Harry. After all, Draco was here on business.

"We know why you were expelled. However, we know you to be innocent," Draco said.

"Wha?" Hagrid said, surprised. "Then, why are yer here?"

"We're here because we have a question. The person who died. Was her name Myrtle?" Draco asked. Harry looked at Draco in amazement.

"How the hell did yeh figure that one out?" Hagrid asked.

"Obvious really, when you realize the monster has been using the Pipes to travel around," Draco said. Once again, Harry looked at Draco, only this time it was in surprise.

"What?" Hagrid asked.

"It's the only way this monster could have traveled around unnoticed. It used the piping. That leaves three possible entrances to the Chamber of Secrets. The most promising one, and in my opinion, most likely was the Girls restrooms. If I were Salazar, and I built a secret chamber, using piping as the entrance, which let's face it, that's the only possible entrance, that's where I'd put it. So, Moaning Myrtle was killed by the monster of Slytherin. That proves my theory," Draco said.

Before Draco could tell them his theory, the worst bit of the bunch happened. There was a banging on the door. Draco immediately placed the cloak on himself and Harry. Hagrid opened the door and in entered Cornelius Fudge. The Minister of Magic was there, followed closely by Professor Dumbledore. This was it. Draco's spirits sank knowing what was coming next.

"Damn it, Fudge is here," Draco whispered to Harry.

"Bad business, Hagrid," Fudge said in a rather clipped tone. "Very bad business. Had to come. Three attacks on Muggleborns. One attack on a pureblood. One attack on a half-blood. And a cat. Things've gone far enough. Ministry's got to act."

"I never," Hagrid said. "You know I never, Professor Dumbledore, sir-"

"I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid has my full confidence," said Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's eyes looked full of fire. Fire that only came when talking to Draco about the coming war. The fire that came when Dumbledore was actually doing something. Unfortunately, there was nothing Dumbledore could do. His positions were all merely figurehead positions. He had influence, but no actual power. Even the position of Headmaster had lost most of it's power. Delegated to the Deputy Headmistress and the Heads of House. Therefore, Dumbledore just couldn't force any issues. That was one of the reasons why Sirius Black was still in Azkaban without a trial. Technically legal for war criminals, but greatly frowned upon. Especially for Lords of Ancient and Most Noble Houses.

"Look Albus," said Fudge uncomfortably. "Hagrid's record's against him. Ministry's got to do something. The school's governor's been in touch."

"Yet again, I tell you that taking Hagrid away will not help in the slightest," Dumbledore said.

"Look at it from my point of view," Fudge said. "I'm under a lot of pressure. Got to be seen doing something. If it turns out it wasn't Hagrid, he'll be back and no more said. But I've got to take him. Got to. Wouldn't be doing my duty."

"Take me?" Hagrid said trembling in terror. Draco didn't blame him. He'd be trembling if he were in Hagrid's shoes. "Take me where?"

"For a short stretch only," said Fudge. Draco noticed that Fudge couldn't meet Hagrid in the eyes. Probably Fudge's least favorite part of the job. "Not as a punishment, more as a precaution. If someone else is caught, you'll be let out with a full apology."

"Not Azkaban!" Hagrid croaked. Again, Draco didn't blame Hagrid in the finest for that. He was surprised that Hagrid was even able to speak with the temporary fate ahead of him.

Then, there was another tap on the door, and Draco's least favorite person in the world came in. Lucius, in all his blasphemous need to bow.

"Already here, Fudge," he said approvingly. "Good, good..."

"What're yeh doin' here?" Hagrid asked. "Get outta me house!"

"My dear man, believe me, I have no pleasure being inside your, er, d'you call this a house?" Lucius said. "I simply called at the school and was told that the Headmaster was here."

"And what exactly do you want with me, Lucius?" Dumbledore spoke. His voice was calm, but that fire was still in his eyes.

" _Dreadful_ thing, Dumbledore," Lucius said lazily, as he took out a long roll of parchment. "but the governors feel it's time for you to step aside. This is an Order of Suspension, you'll find all twelve signatures on it. I'm afraid we think you're losing your touch. How many attacks have there been now? Two more this afternoon wasn't it? At this rate, there'll be no Muggle-Borns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what a awful loss that would be to the school."

Revisit plans for Operation Lucius. He needed to speed them foward. This was going too far, and he was causing entirely too much damage to the school. Draco would look foward to killing Lucius. Treating the loss of Hermione as a way to get Draco's most powerful ally out of Hogwarts. That was two additional strikes against him.

"Oh, now, see here, Lucius," said Fudge alarmed. "Dumbledore suspended, no, no, last thing we want just now."

Fudge had the right idea. After all, the Diary probably kept a low profile because of Dumbledore's presence. The attacks would be happening with more frequency, unless Draco did something to stop them. Luckily, a plan was coming to Draco's mind. A plan that was crazy, but could theoretically work.

"The appointment, or suspension, of headmasters is a matter for the governors, Fudge," said Lucius smoothly. "And as Dumbledore has failed to stop these attacks."

"If Dumbledore can't stop them, I mean to say, who can?" Fudge said, panicking a little. Draco didn't blame him either. The only one in the wrong here was Lucius, who's influence over Fudge was a little worrying. Draco'd have to end that influence. Draco was really looking foward to Operation Lucius. It would be rather fun actually.

"That remains to be seen," Lucius said with a nasty smile. "But as all twelve of us have voted."

"AN" HOW MANY DID YEH HAVE TO THREATEN OR BLACKMAIL BEFORE THEY AGREED MALFOY? EH?" Hagrid boomed.

"Dear me, you know, that temper of yours will get you in trouble one of these days. I don't recommend you shout at the Azkaban guards like that. They won't like it at all," Lucius said.

"YEH CAN' TAKE DUMBLEDORE!" Hagrid boomed. "TAKE HIM AWAY, AN' THE MUGGLEBORN'S WON'T STAND A CHANCE! THERE'LL BE KILLIN' NEXT!"

"Calm yourself, Hagrid." said Dumbledore sharply. "If the governor's want my removal, Lucius, I shall of course step aside."

"But," stammered Fudge.

"NO!" growled Hagrid.

"However," said Dumbledore, speaking very slowly and clearly, so that nobody could miss a word. "you will find that I will only truly have left this school when there are none here that are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given here to those who ask for it."

Then, Dumbledore looked directly at Draco and Harry. That man didn't miss a trick. Plus, he just greatly boosted their chances for survival.

"Admirable sentiments," said Lucius. "We shall all miss your, er, highly individual way of running things, and only hope that your successor will manage to prevent any killings."

Then, Lucius and Dumbledore left the hut, leaving only Hagrid and Fudge.

"If anyone wanted ter find out some _stuff,_ all they'd have ter do would be ter follow the spiders. That'd lead them right! That's all I'm saying. All right, all right, I'm comin'," Hagrid said. "An' someone'll need to feed Fang while I'm away."

Then, Hagrid and Fudge walked away, and Draco and Harry were completely alone.

"So shall we follow the spiders?" Harry asked.

"I don't think so," Draco said. "We wouldn't learn anything that I haven't already figured out. We know who the Heir of Slytherin is, we know where the Chamber of Secrets is, and I know what the Monster of Slytherin is. No, I think it's time to inform the Great Alliance of what we learned today."

"When should we meet?"

"We'll meet tomorrow, we have to act quickly, as if we don't, then there'll be more attacks."


	16. More Writing On The Wall

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

A/N: Yes, I'm skipping Aragog. It's just that I can't think of a realistic way that Draco and Harry get out of that one alive.

Chapter Sixteen: More Writing on the Wall

Draco Malfoy was a never one who could be called reactive. He was chosen because he preferred to act than react. Because of this, he accomplished a lot, and usually had his enemies reacting to his actions, rather than the other way around. Generally had the ones he wanted dead on the defensive, or dead before they even knew they were dead. However, today, he was like a machine. Draco wasn't exactly sure what that phrase meant, but he heard enough Muggle-Borns use that phrase that he was able to guess it meant that he was operating with great efficiency. Draco supposed that losing the only friend he chose without any true motives would do that to him. Losing Hermione was a trigger in Draco. Triggered his mind, and caused him to solve a decades old mystery. Triggered his actions, and caused him to formulate a loose plan of attack.

Luckily, today, he had Potions and Herbology. He wouldn't have to send out owls. Owls might get noticed, and intercepted. If it got intercepted, then there was no chance that they'd be able to get the alliance to meet. Then, Draco'd never be able to bring them up to date. He'd tell them in person. Starting with Daphne, and then in Herbology, he'd bring give Susan and Hannah the time and date. He'd let Harry tell Neville during Potions. It would keep Harry from killing Nott when Nott started bemoaning how unfair it was, Hermione not dying. Of course, Draco'd have difficulty restraining himself. He would have to keep telling himself that Nott was necessary. Remove Nott and they'd probably get someone worse.

During Potions, it was only possible to ignore Nott, because Draco was talking to Daphne.

"Hermione figured it all out. And because of it, I figured it all out. I know what the Monster of Slytherin is, and I know where the Chamber is. I'll be telling you everything in the library with the others."

"You know what attacked my sister. Good. It'll help us kill it," Daphne said.

"Correction, it'll help me kill it."

"It attacked my sister! I'm killing it," Daphne said.

"It attacked my intended, even if she doesn't know it yet. I will be the one to kill the monster," Draco said. Draco might have revealed a bit too much there.

"Your intended? Oh, Granger," Daphne said. "Not bad. She's certainly clever enough for you. However, we'll be discussing who gets to kill the monster at the meeting."

"Yes, yes we shall."

"So how am I going to evade the professors?"

"It'll be simple. The professors will change shifts every three hours. They will move in predictable patterns. Last night, while Harry was asleep, I was mapping their paths, and the times they'll complete their rounds. I spent the last three weeks doing this. After all, and I did it with the entire alliance. I completed three maps of their rounds. Now, it's not a great map, as it doesn't show the moving staircases, nor does it show the students. The Ghosts, however, have followed predictable paths for years. I have studied the notes taken by James Potter in regard to the movements of Ghosts, prefects, and Head Boys and Girls. Then, I compared it to the movements of the Ghosts, Prefects, and Head Boys and Girls of this year. Same, easily predictable rounds. Easily avoidable. The only one you should have a problem with is Peeves. However, he can't see through disillusionment charms. He can sense your presence, but he is easily manipulated by pretending to be the Bloody Baron. The map will take care of the rest. We are meeting in the Room of Requirement. It is located on the seventh floor. Opposite that tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls. To enter, you need to think three times in passing this phrase: I really need the meeting room for the Great Alliance. After you do that, a door should appear. That door will take you to the meeting room. Be there as soon as curfew starts. And tell Tracy."

With that, all that was left to do, was smirk as Nott foolishly suggested to Severus to take the position of Headmaster, not realizing that Severus was completely loyal to Dumbledore. It was almost funny, how much clearer the world was knowing why Severus did what he did. He still didn't understand that hatred for Neville, but he supposed he'd understand it soon enough.

Then, class was over. The Gryffindors were escorted to Herbology to meet the Hufflepuffs. Where, McMillan met them. Where, McMillan had something to say. An apology and an accusation.

"I just want to say, Harry, I'm sorry I ever suspected you. I know you'd never attack Hermione Granger, and I apologize for all the stuff I said. We're in the same boat after all."

McMillan held out his hand, and Harry shook it. Harry was a bit too kind for the real world. Draco would never have taken that hand.

"So, that Theodore Nott character," McMillan said. "He seems very pleased with all this. D'you know, I think _he_ might be the Heir of Slytherin."

"That's the problem with your baseless accusations. We already have proof that he isn't the Heir of Slytherin. You might have known that if you hadn't been so quick to suspect Harry of these attacks," Draco said. "Besides, Nott can't control the monster, how is he supposed to be the Heir of Slytherin?"

"Draco's right. It's not Nott. Draco has a theory. However, he won't tell me what it is!"

"You'll have to wait until my grand reveal! Then, you'll be bopping your head, thinking, how did nobody think of this before? Which reminds me, Hannah, I have something for you. Show it to Susan Bones, but that's it. Let nobody else see it. Lives depend on it," Draco said.

There, Tracy, Hannah, Neville, and Susan all informed of the meeting. Draco almost couldn't wait for the day to begin. After the meeting began, Professor Sprout escorted them to Lockhart's classes. Lockhart looked as if he hadn't had a drop of sleep in a month. He looked furious, completely different than the Lockhart of the original time line.

"Today, rather than teach you, I'm going to tell you never trust a politician! You can't be Minister of Magic with a full brain! Every single one of them would rather do the wrong thing and be seen as doing something, than taking their time to do it right! I want to end the rumors now. Hagrid is not the Heir of Slytherin! He's the first one I interviewed, and he's the first one I cleared! He isn't the Heir of Slytherin, and he got chucked into Azkaban without a trial! Write to your parents, tell them that an innocent man was chucked into Azkaban without a trial! Because I only have you once a day, and no access to you any other time, I'm going use my classes to interview each and every one of you. Starting with Draco Malfoy. Come into my office. We'll be right back class."

Draco stood in Lockhart's office, wondering why he was the first interview. His best friend was attacked by the monster of Slytherin, a monster who's identity was deduced by Draco. Maybe it was because Lockhart thought that Draco knew more than he was telling. Or, maybe not.

"Hello, Draco. Why don't you tell me who the Heir of Slytherin is?" Lockhart said.

"As far as my sources can trace, Slytherin's bloodline died with a Merope Gaunt. However, there is a chance she had a child around sixty years ago. Can't prove it, though. Next question Lockhart," Draco said.

"Do you know what the Monster of Slytherin is? I'll be very disappointed in you if you haven't at least a logical guess."

"I have a logical guess, however, I would rather not say. After all, it ceased to be a teacher's matter when Astoria Greengrass and Hermione Granger were attacked. Now, the only way I can let you into the group that has the information is if you give me a magical oath, that you will allow us to continue our business, and when you go into the Chamber, you'll let us work with you. Oh, and either Daphne Greengrass, or myself gets to kill the Monster of Slytherin."

"I'd be a fool to let children face a monster that's already attacked several students."

"And has been travelling through the pipes. Just saying. We're no safer in our dormitories, than we are in the Chamber of Secrets. At least in the Chamber of Secrets, we have a chance to kill the Monster of Slytherin."

"Very well, I solemnly swear that I will let you and your group enter the Chamber of Secrets when you tell me where it is," Lockhart said.

"Good. Then, meet me in the Room of Requirement. The Great Alliance will be meeting there to discuss the recent events. There, I'll reveal everything I've figured out recently. After all, I must keep my flair for dramatics. It's part of who I am."

"Where is this Room of Requirement?" Lockhart said.

"It's on the seventh floor, across that tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy getting clubbed by Trolls. You have to think of this code phrase, I really need the meeting room for the Great Alliance. After that, a door will open. Enter the room and all will be revealled when all the players show up," Draco said. "But, we'll have to vote on whether or not you're allowed to retain the knowledge you'll be given."

"Very well," Lockhart said. "I'll see you there."

Then, Defense Against the Dark Arts class ended. Lockhart escorted them to the Gryffindor Common room. On the way to the Common Room, they passed a wall, and saw writing. It wasn't the first message, but the handwriting was the same. It simply read, "Her Skeleton Shall Lie In The Chamber Forever." This was too early. Way too early. That meant that they'd have to speed up their movements. The Great Alliance would have to enter the Chamber tonight. That meant that Draco'd have to speed up his Grand Reveal. Oh, well. That meant that the Diary was in the Chamber. Drat.

Once they were in the common room, Draco and Harry were sitting in their comfy chairs. Draco was plotting, while Harry was doing his favorite hobby, asking stupid questions. Draco would answer the stupid questions, because unlike Draco, Harry didn't know anything about the current crisis.

"What does it mean, her skeleton shall lie in the chamber forever?" Harry asked.

"Ginny Weasley. She wasn't with the Ravenclaw first years. She stole the Diary. That means it's no longer just a revenge mission. Now, it's a rescue mission. We have to go tonight, as soon as we bring the Alliance up to speed."

"You mean as soon as you bring the Alliance up to speed, seeing as you're the only one who knows anything about what's going on," Harry said.

"We leave now," Draco said. "If we don't, Hogwarts will close. If Hogwarts closes, then you lose the opportunity to learn magic, and when the Dark Wanker returns, nobody will be able to kill him. So, you could say that the fate of the Magical World depends on this last mission."

"Then we get to work," Harry said.

Neville walked up to Draco and Harry, and Harry threw the invisibility cloak over them.

"I take it you've explained it to Neville," Draco said.

"As much as I can, considering you won't tell anybody anything," Harry said.

"Telling before the grand reveal would ruin all the fun," Draco said.

Draco, Harry, and Neville walked to the Room of Requirement, and made the door appear. They walked into it. The room appeared to be a conference room. Large round table, eight chairs. The chairs had names on them, so that there'd be no confusion on where to sit, no power plays. Draco ordered them, as to ensure that no two people of the same House sat next to each other. Thus, to show that this Alliance worked for the good of the Wizarding World as a whole, rather than for the good of their House.

Draco, Harry, and Neville sat down in the seats that were assigned to them. Draco didn't think their'd be any objections, seeing as there wasn't an end to the table. No head of the table, means no leader for this alliance, or at least, no official leader.

Slowly, but surely the members of the Great Alliance showed up. To Draco's left was the seat for Susan Bones, and to his right, was Tracy Davis. To Susan's left was Neville Longbottom, and to Tracy's Right, was Gilderoy Lockhart. To Neville's Left was Hannah Abbott, and to Lockhart's right was Harry Potter. To the left of Hannah, and to the right of Harry was Daphne Greengrass. That was the plan at least. Unfortunately, Daphne saw it fit to bring the Weasel with her.

"First of all, why did you bring Weasley?" Draco asked.

"Ronald's sister was taken prisoner by the Monster of Slytherin, whatever it might be," Tracy said.

"He's a liability!" Draco said. "He's going to get us all killed."

"Someone he cares about was taken by the Monster of Slytherin! Surely you can identify Draco," Daphne said.

"Fine, but he can attend this meeting, and help form the plan, but he stays here. I'm only going with people I trust," Draco said.

"What do you know, Draco?" Hannah asked.

"In one day, I've figured out what the Monster of Slytherin is, how it's moving around unseen, and where the Chamber is. I also have a crazy theory about who the Heir of Slytherin is. Where shall I start?" Draco said.

"How about the monster," Lockhart said. "If we can identify the Monster, we should be able to identify the Heir."

"It's a Basilisk!" Draco exclaimed.

"But nobody died," Daphne countered.

"That's because nobody looked at it directly in the eye. Think about it Daphne, Colin looked through her camera, Justin and Astoria looked through Nearly Headless Nick, and Nick probably got a full blast, but you can't kill a ghost. Hermione was found holding a mirror! So was Penelope Clearwater! Hermione figured it out, and knowing her, she immediately told the first person she found. Warned her to look around corners with a mirror for safety!"

"What about Mrs. Norris?" Harry asked.

"The water! That day, the day that Mrs. Norris was attacked, Myrtle had a temper tantrum. This caused massive flooding in the area! Mrs. Norris looked at it's reflection in the water! Not one person looked at it directly in the eye," Draco said. "You want more proof? Spiders flee before it, Hermione and I noticed that all the Spiders in the area seemed to be running towards the Forbidden Forest. The cry of a rooster is fatal to it, all the roosters in the area were savagely murdered. Harry's been hearing a disembodied voice that Hermione and I can't here. One that precedes each attack. That's why Harry was found at each crime scene. He was trying to rescue the victims. The voice he was hearing was the Basilisk speaking Parseltongue."

"But how does a Basilisk move about unhindered and unseen?" Daphne asked.

"Pipes," Draco said. "Only possible explanation, which also narrows the possible entrances to the Chamber of Secrets to three locations. A quick question asked to Hagrid narrowed it down to one."

"What question?" Susan asked.

"The student who died last time around, was her name Myrtle?" Draco said. "Hagrid confirmed it to me. That narrows the location to one location. The girl's bathroom. Probably a sink in Myrtle's bathroom."

"What about the Heir of Slytherin?" Daphne asked.

"Lord Voldemort," Draco said. Draco relished watching the others, well the others except Harry, flinch.

"He's dead isn't he?" Tracy asked.

"Not remotely. Harry and I encountered him last year. He was possessing Quirrell that time. Why I had to kill Quirrell."

"But my scar hasn't burned recently," Harry said. "It always burns with proximity to Voldemort."

"Yes, but what was the full name of T.M. Riddle?"

"Tom Marvelo Riddle," Harry said.

"Tom Marvelo Riddle. The man who framed Hagrid for opening the Chamber of Secrets the first time around. I'm going to let you try to see where I see Voldemort in that," Draco said.

"I can't," Harry said.

"Not a trace," Neville said.

"I don't have a clue," Susan said.

"The name, Tom Marvelo Riddle. It's an anagram. Rearrange the letters of his name, and it spells I Am Lord Voldemort. Anyways, the Dark Wanker gave Lucius a Diary, the Diary of T.M. Riddle. He told Lucius to guard it, and one day, to release it into Hogwarts, as that Diary held the instructions to enter the Chamber of Secrets. I got that much from Dobby. Now, the only question was this, where was the Diary. I guarantee that this Diary will be in the Chamber of Secrets. After all, Lord Voldemort is a talker, and he loves to boast."

"Even if we believe this Lord Voldemort stuff, why couldn't you just get your hands on the Diary?" Daphne asked.

"We did. We had it for two months. Two months without attacks," Draco said. "Unfortunately, it was stolen from us. Now, we need to form a plan of attack. Also, Dumbledore told me something that could be tremendously helpful."

"Now what bombshell are you going to drop on us?"

"He told me these words exactly, 'You will find that I will only truly have left this school when there are none here that are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given here to those who ask for it.' I think that was a message to us. I think that Dumbledore knew I was there, and knew that I held the clues to killing the Basilisk. I think he told me how to beat the Heir of Slytherin. I think he outfoxed Lord Voldemort," Draco said. "Anybody have any ideas on what to do?"

"Easy," Ronald said. "The way I see it is that you can't bring everyone here. Too many people, and you start giving the Basilisk lunch, but too few people and same result. I say we need four people with extraordinary magical skills. Personally, I'd send Lockhart, Malfoy, Daphne, and Potter. They have the most magical energy, and the most skill with their magic."

"You bring up a good point Weasley. Now, I've formed a plan. Listen up, for I am about to blow your mind."

Thirty minutes later, Draco, Harry, Daphne, and Lockhart were standing in front of a faucet in Myrtle's bathroom.

"We're looking for a snake engraving. Something to signify the entrance to Slytherin's Heir," Draco said.

"Found it!" Daphne said, pointing at some snakes on one of the faucets in the sink. "The entrance to the Chamber."

"Now, all we have to do is open it," Lockhart said. "Open it and follow the plan."

"It's a stupid plan," Daphne said.

"But, it might work," Harry said.

"It is completely reliant on Professor Dumbledore leaving an enchantment on the grounds. An enchantment he had no clue we might need," Daphne said.

"Not so," Draco said. "I've kept him up to date on my search. Had to, as to follow the Treaty."

"What treaty?" Daphne said.

"Unimportant," Draco said. "I think Harry better try to speak to the faucet. Use his Parseltongue."

"But I've never spoken in Parseltongue without a physical snake present," Harry said.

"Fine, then we'll make a snake!" Draco said. _"Serpensortia!"_

Then, a boa constrictor appeared. Then, Harry was able to speak Parseltongue. The Chamber of Secrets was open. The Endgame had come.


	17. The Snake Room and the Dark Wanker

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

A/N: Princess Bride reference! Cookies to the one who finds it.

Chapter Seventeen: The Snake Room and the Dark Wanker

They found themselves before a chasm.

"Sorry, but I can't see the Heir of Slytherin jumping down a chasm saying wee," Draco said. "There must be a way to create stairs."

"I'll try," Harry said.

Then, Harry hissed again. Then, Draco turned towards the boa constrictor, and put it out of it's misery with a silent Cutting Curse. This time, Daphne looked at him in surprise. Then, Draco realized, Daphne only saw Draco Malfoy use silent magic once before, during the events of the Duel Club.

"Let's go," Draco said, as they all went down those stairs. "Remember, if it moves, close your eyes."

"Right," Daphne said. They made it to a large door. There was an extremely lifelike looking snake on the door, but it was only a fake. Draco believed that he'd have no need to create a snake this time around, and he was proven right. Harry hissed, and the door opened. They stepped through the door, and found themselves in the Chamber.

They pulled out their wands and walked through the Chamber of Secrets. Their hearts were beating fast, wondering if the Basilisk could be lying behind a pillar, or in a shadowy corner. Draco's only consolation was the knowledge that Potter did it before, and that this time, Harry was more equiped to do it again.

Midway through the Chamber, they saw a statue, a statue of Slytherin. Between the feet of Slytherin, lay the She-Weasel. Harry ran towards the She-Weasel. He dropped to her knees, and placed his hand on her neck. Then, they heard a voice that made their skin crawl.

"She won't wake," the voice said. They turned their heads, and saw a boy there. A tall, black haired boy. Tom Riddle.

"Tom Riddle?" Harry asked.

"That's me," Riddle said.

"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Harry asked. "She's not, she's not-"

"She's still alive," Riddle said. "Only just."

"She's a pureblood," Daphne said. "Sister of one of my House Mates. I'm afraid I'm going to have to take her with me."

"Really now," Riddle said. "You think you can challenge me."

"Are you a ghost?" Harry asked.

"A memory preserved in a Diary for fifty years," Riddle said.

Then, he pointed toward the floor, and next to the She-Weasel, was the Diary. So, the She-Weasel was the thief. Draco had his suspicions, but until now, no way to prove that it was her.

"So, you've forced her to attack those students," Draco said.

"It was relatively simple really," Riddle said. "After all, she was a lonely little girl, and I was quite charming."

"We've got Ginny," Harry said. "But we've got to go. The basilisk."

"Will come when called," Riddle said. "And I don't think you'll be needing your wand. After all, I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter. For the chance to see you. To speak with you."

"You've attacked those students. What would you want with me?" Harry asked.

"To talk of course. And eventually, to kill you, but, we can save that for later," Riddle said.

"Very well, let's talk. How did Ginny get like this?" Harry asked.

"Interesting question. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and poured all of her secrets to an invisible stranger," Riddle said.

"What are you talking about?" Harry said.

"The Diary, Harry, she wrote in the Diary. It possessed her, and forced her to open the Chamber of Secrets. Which makes me think that you aren't a mere memory," Draco said. "After all, memories don't possess people, and they certainly don't open Death Chambers or Snake Rooms. So what are you really?"

"Interesting, a man of intellect. What's your name?" Riddle asked.

"I go by many names. But, you can call me AHH! or RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY! Or, if you so choose, YOU KILLED MY SNAKE, YOU JERK! or, possibly, I WANT MY MOMMY! Because, you are not leaving the Chamber alive," Draco said.

"You're real name," Ridde said.

"Very well, I'm Draco Malfoy," Draco said. "I would tell you to remember that name, except there's no need. I'm going to destroy you today Riddle."

"Harry Potter," Riddle said. "Ginny told me a lot about Harry Potter. Then, again, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. Ginny poured her soul to me, and her soul was exactly what I wanted. I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears and darkest secrets. I grew powerful. Far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start telling her a few of my secrets. To start pouring a bit of my soul into her. Suddenly, her entries became more interesting. ' _Dear Tom, I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there. Dear Tom, I can't remember what I did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked, and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and I'm not myself. I think he suspects me... There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do. I think I'm going mad... I think I'm the one attacking people._ ' It took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her diary. But, she finally became suspicious and tried to dispose of it. And, that's where you come in, Harry. You found it, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Of all the people to pick it up, it was the one person I was most anxious to meet..."

"Why would you want to meet me?" Harry asked, his anger clearly showing. Draco quickly looked at his companions. Daphne looked sick, and Lockhart looked curious. Almost like, he knew something the rest of them did not, or at least suspected something.

"You see, Ginny told me all about you, your whole truly fascinating history. I knew I must find out more about you. Talk to you. Meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of Hagrid the oaf, to gain your trust."

"Hagrid was my friend, and you framed him, didn't you. I thought you made a mistake, but..."

"It was my word against Hagrid's, Harry. Well, you can imagine how it all looked to old Armando Dippet. On one hand poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student... on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking of to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls, but I admit, even I was surprised how well my plan worked. I thought somebody must have realized that Hagrid could not possibly be the Heir of Slytherin. It had taken _me_ five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets, and discover the entrance. As if Hagrid had the brains, or the power.

"Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as a gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed... Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did..."

"I bet he didn't," Draco said. "After all, he probably knew exactly what you were."

"Well, he kept an annoyingly close look at me after Hagrid was expelled. I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I spent looking for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in it's pages, so that one day, with luck, I'd be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"I know what you are," Lockhart said. "You're a Horcrux!"

"Interesting," Riddle said. "A man of light, knowing about Horcruxes."

"Oh, knowing about Horcruxes was easy. Especially when you know what you're looking for," Lockhart said. "It's like I told Draco, you can't truly battle the darkness if you allow it to enter your soul. Know what you're looking for, and then when it comes around, you'll be prepared for it."

"You didn't finish it," Harry said. "Nobody died. The Mandrakes are ready. Soon, all the Muggleborns will be restored."

"Didn't I tell you, killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months, I've gained a new target. YOU!" Riddle shouted at Harry. "Imagine how angry I was, when my diary was opened, it was Ginny writing in it, not you. She saw you with it, you see, and panicked. What if you found out how to work it, and I repeated all of her secrets to you. What if I told you who'd strangled the roosters? So, the foolish little brat figured out the password to your Common Room, and stole the Diary. But I knew what I must do. It was clear to me, that you were on the trail to the Heir of Slytherin. From what Weasley told me, it was clear you'd go to any lengths to solve the mystery. Especially if one of your best friends was attacked. And Ginny told me how the school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue. So, I made Ginny write her won fairwell on the wall, come down here, and wait. She struggled, and cried, and became very boring. But there wasn't enough life in her. She put to much into the diary,into me. Enough to let me leave my pages at last, where I have been waiting for you to appear. I knew you'd come. I have so many questions for you Harry Potter."

"Like what?" Harry spat in his extraordinary fury. Okay, Draco decided. Harry had the biggest right to kill Riddle. Draco could content himself with the Snake.

"Well, how is it that you, a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent, managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

"The Dark Lord was after your time?" Daphne said. Clearly she didn't believe Draco's theory. "Why would you care about how Harry escaped?"

"Voldemort is my past, present, and future, Miss..."

"Greengrass. Daphne Greengrass. Scion of the Ancient and Most Noble House."

Then, Riddle pulled out his wand, and wrote three flaming words.

TOM MARVELO RIDDLE.

Then, Riddle waved his wand once, and the words rearranged themselves.

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT.

Draco was right, and he'd have fun laughing about it later, assuming that they all got out of this alive.

"You see?" Riddle said. "It was already a name I was using at Hogwarts, among my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever. I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who'd abandoned me before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? NO, Harry, I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would fear to speak, when I became the greatest sorcerer in the world."

Then, because it looked like the perfect opportunity, and because Harry looked so full of hatred to speak properly, Draco spoke up.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm afraid you failed in that regard," Draco said.

"Failed how?" Riddle snapped.

"You are far from the greatest wizard in the world. That honor belongs to Albus Dumbledore, a wizard so great, that even you dare not try and attack Hogwarts while he is alive. He frightens you, even now, wherever it is you're hiding out these days," Draco said.

"Dumbledore's been driven out of the castle by a mere memory of me!"

"Ah, but you'll find that he's never quite gone from the castle!" Draco said. "You'll still find him where you least expect it. You'll find his influence and his power is still in the school, as long as there are still people at Hogwarts loyal to him!"

Riddle opened his mouth, as if to make a comeback, when music came from everywhere. Riddle turned around, and saw exactly what Draco was hoping to see. A phoenix, and oddly enough, the Sorting Hat. Fawkes was here. The stage was set. Now, he had something that could fight off a Basilisk, an immortal Warrior. Something that everytime it dies, it just bursts into flames and is reborn. Then, Fawkes dropped the Sorting Hat towards Draco.

For a second, Draco didn't understand, but then, he did. He remembered the rumors that Potter killed the Monster of Slytherin with the Sword of Gryffindor. He remembered how the Sword of Gryffindor was prominently on the Headmaster's wall after the Chamber of Secrets affair. The Sword was in the hat, it had to be. However, only a true Gryffindor could pull the Sword. Someone brave and chivalrous. Somebody noble and true. Whatever that meant, Draco had to hope that those words could apply to him.

Then, Riddle laughed.

"A songbird and a hat! That's what Dumbledore sends his champions. Do you feel brave? Do you feel safe now? To business. Twice I have failed to kill you. How do you survive? Tell me. The longer you talk, the longer you stay alive!" Riddle said.

"I don't know how Harry survived the first time, nobody does. The only person in the world who knows is the version of you that's hiding out in Albania. However, the last time you met Harry Potter, the battle over the stone, you lost because I outsmarted you. I killed your Host, and was wearing a ward to keep you from using my body as another host. That's the truth of the matter Dark Wanker. Now, shall you bring our your snake? I long to kill it," Draco said.

"How Gryffindor of you!" Riddle laughed. "As if a few second years and a second rate professor could possibly kill my Basilisk."

Then, Riddle started hissing. Draco immediately closed his eyes, hoping that his comrades did as well. Then, he heard Lockhart's scream of pain. Draco took that to mean that Lockhart died.

"Fawkes take out the eyes. If those are gone, I'll be able to use the weapon Dumbledore sent me," Draco said.

Then, a few moments later, he heard the screech of pain.

"So what if it took out your eyes! Smell them! Kill them! Kill them!" Riddle screamed.

"Too late for that Riddle!" Draco said. "I've already won. What you don't understand. Dumbledore outfoxed you. You lost. Your snake is dead."

Then, Draco prayed to the gods that he was a true Gryffindor, and pulled the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat. Then, he charged the snake, using Benetti's Defense. Fitting, considering the rocky terrain. Draco used all his knowledge of swordplay and combat, and plunged the sword into the Basilisk's brain, without getting cut with the basilisk venom. It was over. The monster was destroyed. Lockhart was avenged. Hermione was avenged. Astoria was avenged. He'd done it. Then, he pulled a fang out from the Basilisk. He calmly walked to Harry. Then, he handed Harry the fang.

"You can do the honors of killing your enemy," Draco said.

Harry grinned, and took the fang. He opened the damn Diary, and plunged the fang into it. Stabbing it several times. Riddle screamed and and disappeared. Almost instantly, the She-Weasel woke up. Draco grinned. Looked like even the Weasley's would be getting their happy ending. He held out his hand.

"Come on Weasley. You deserve to leave the Chamber walking, with at least a little dignity," Draco said. "After all, we've killed Basilisk, and we've prolonged Voldemort's return. All in all, I call this a victory. Sure, we've lost Lockhart, but in every war, there are casualties, and one casuaulty in this battle is what I call impressive."

"And they call me cold," Daphne said. "You brush off the death of Lockhart like it's nothing."

"I'm not, I'll probably grieve later. Right now, I'm focusing on the good things. Like how you'll be able to see Astoria tomorrow, and how I'll be able to talk to Hermione again, or how Hogwarts will still be opened tomorrow. Plus, no more Muggleborns will be attacked by a basilisk again. Now, Harry, we must come back next year."

"Why?"

"I want to make sure their's no eggs hatching underneath a toad. I want to see if there's more to the Chamber than what meets the eye. Can't do that today, as we have a Weasel who's in need of his sister. He's going to owe me a favor. Can't pass this up," Draco said. With that he picked up Lockhart's dead body, and walked up the stairs. He was followed by Daphne and Harry. Enthused by his victory.

A/N: You might be wondering why I brought Daphne here, and that is because I wanted them to have a reliable witness. Somebody who saw what happened in the Chamber. You'll be seeing Draco bringing Witnesses to these things a lot. I'll keep quiet about who the witnesses are, but they'll be there.


	18. The Aftermath

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

A/N:

Chapter Eighteen: The Aftermath

Draco, Harry, Daphne, and the She-Weasel somehow found their ways to McGonagall's office. Draco wasn't carrying Lockhart anymore, because he set him down in Myrtle's bathroom. Lockhart was heavy, and he didn't want Lockhart to be left in the Chamber, as he needed Lockhart to be given a proper burial. Call him a sentimentalist.

They knocked on the door, and stood in the doorway. They were clean, except for Draco who was covered in Basilisk Blood. Then, they heard a scream.

 _"Ginny!"_

It was Potion Queen Weasley. She flung herself at her daughter. Draco however, wasn't focusing on her. His attention was beyond them. Dumbledore's magic had done it. It had saved them. However, he couldn't thank Dumbledore just yet, nor could he tell the full story. That would wait until McGonagall, the Weasels, and Daphne were gone.

"You saved my daughter," Arthur Weasley said. "Despite all I've said about the Malfoy family. Why?"

"It wasn't to save your daughter. It was to avenge my friend," Draco said.

"How did you do it?" Potion Queen Weasley asked.

"I think we'd all like to know that," McGonagall said.

Draco and Harry looked at eachother, and placed on the desk, a basilisk fang, the Diary, and the Sword of Gryffindor. Then, they started to tell the story, occasionally interrupted by Daphne Greengrass. They confessed to breaking several rules, and how they solved the mystery. Draco looked at Daphne for approval, before spilling the beans on the Great Alliance. He told how the Great Alliance formed a plan for the Chamber, and how the plan , he told them about how Lockhart died in the Chamber. How he brought Lockhart's body to Myrtle's restroom. Draco and Harry told them the official story, Draco keeping some details to himself, like how Lockhart called Riddle a Horcrux.

Then, Dumbledore spoke.

"What interests me most," he said. "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently hiding in the forests of Albania."

"The Diary of T.M. Riddle. The Heir of Slytherin. He wrote in it when he was sixteen," Draco said. Draco gestured towards the diary, as Harry picked it up, and handed it to Dumbledore. Dumbledore picked it up, and peered keenly upon those burnt pages.

"Brilliant," he said softly. "Of course, he was one of the most brilliant students to ever attend Hogwarts. Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school... travelled far and wide... sank so deeply in the Dark Arts, consorted with the worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous magical transformations that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

"But Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley. "What's our Ginny got to do with him?"

"She's been writing in his Diary, he's been writing back," Draco said.

"Ginny!" Mr. Weasley said flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always taught you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps it's brains? Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic."

Ginny looked like she was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. So, Draco took pity on her.

"Because she thought that you bought it for her. Probably found it on top of her school books. Isn't that right Ginny?"

"Yes," Ginny said. "How did you know that?"

"Because I suspect you got it from my father. During that brawl in Flourish and Blotts. Isn't that right father?" Draco said to the man who walked in behind him. "After all, why else would you cause a ruckus in Flourish and Blotts. A man of your stature would never stoop so low, unless to cause a distraction. You planted the Dark Lord's diary on Weasley, hoping to further discredit Arthur Weasley, thus strengthen your argument against the Muggle Protection Act."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lucius said.

"Really. So, you deny doing, what is actually a pretty cunning move. You got rid of a highly incriminating piece of evidence, discredited Arthur Weasley, and managed to weaken the support for the Muggle Protection Act. Brilliantly done. Oh, and that explains the flying car too. You probably decided to close the barrier on a Weasley. No, you'd have never dirtied your hands like that. You'd have sent Dobby to do this. You probably had Dobby seal the barrier on a Weasley. Then, you waited until the proper time came, and you struck at Arthur Weasley's reputation. Of course, even you couldn't possibly predict how well your plans would work," Draco said.

"How elementary of you. Unfortunately, the Maybe Game doesn't work in courts."

"But, it does wonders in the media. And, I just so happen to have several reporters on my payroll. I've spent the past year wondering if I am more Slytherin or Gryffindor. I've realized that at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. Today, Gryffindor got me out of the Chamber alive, and who knows, maybe next year, Slytherin will do the same thing. Slytherin, however, will destroy your reputation. Good luck with that father."

Lucius looked as if he wanted to curse Draco, but then he turned towards Dobby.

"Dobby, we're leaving," Lucius said.

Lucius and Dobby started to walk away, when Harry took the Diary and ran after them. The next thing Draco knew, he heard Lucius screaming in rage.

"YOU COST ME A SERVANT!" he heard Lucius shout.

"YOU WILL NOT HURT HARRY POTTER!" he heard Dobby shout back, then he heard a boom. A few moments later, Harry walked back in, as if nothing happened. Now, Draco had a problem. there was nobody to continue potioning Lucius. That meant that he'd have to find a new elf to do this. Damn it.

"Miss Weasley should go to the Hospital wing right away. This has been a terribe ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." Dumbledore said. "Bed rest and perhaps a steaming mug of hot chocolate. You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice, I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."

"So Astoria's okay," Daphne said.

"Good," Draco said.

"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," Dumbledore said.

Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking deeply shaken. Draco didn't blame him, this year had been a bad time to be Arthur Weasley. Draco was starting to feel slightly guilty about rigging that raffle. Arthur could have used the money, but the war came first.

"You know, Minerva," Dumbledore said. "I think this all merits a good feast. Might I ask you to alert the kitchens?"

"Right," Minnie said curtly, also leaving the room.

As soon as Minnie left the room, the real conversation began, even though Daphne was still there.

"What did you leave out?" Dumbledore said.

"Lockhart called the Diary a Horcrux," Draco said.

"I suspected as much. But it's odd. A Horcrux isn't an offensive weapon. It's something you hide. Why would Voldemort create a Horcrux that also acts as a weapon? It doesn't make sense," Dumbledore said.

"What is a Horcrux?" Draco said.

"A Horcrux is what you get when you tear your soul, and place it into an object. What a Horcrux does is stop you from dying," Dumbledore said. "This is proof that Voldemort isn't dead."

"I know," Draco said. "The war's begun, the rest of the world just doesn't know it yet. The sword is covered with Basilisk venom. Should make the sword even stronger."

"Agreed. Now to reward the three of you. The three of you shall be given Special Awards for Services to the School. And recieve two hundred points a piece to your respective houses."

"You mean Harry and Daphne will. I told you, I will not accept a single House Point, and I meant it," Draco said.

"Right, never had a student so adament against recieving House Points. So, Two Hundred points for Gryffindor and Slytherin," Dumbledore said.

Draco mentally did the math. This put Slytherin in first place and Gryffindor in second. Not bad. Once again, an injustice was avoided. Plus, when word got around that Daphne was the reason why Slytherin won, they'd have even more reason to respect her. More reason for Daphne to continue owing him favors.

All in all, the rest of the term passes like a breeze, but Draco didn't fully enjoy it. He knew this was only the calm before the storm, and that soon, he'd have to stop moving so slowly. He'd have to focus on the big problem soon enough. However, in this brooding void of dread, there were bursts of sunlight. Those bursts, he enjoyed completely. Like, when Hermione came rushing up to them screaming, "You solved it! You solved it!" Draco pointed out that he wouldn't have if it hadn't been for her. And then there was Finch-Fletchley who apologized profusely for suspecting Harry. Harry forgave Justin, and Draco did not. Then, there was Hagrid, released from Azkaban because the real Heir was revealled.

However, Draco realized that he had to follow his example last year. He had to point out what a stupid bunch of idiots they were. So, Draco stood up, lifted up his glass of grape juice, and clanged his spoon to the side. Everybody looked at him.

"I have something to say. Last year I said that I was never more ashamed to be a Gryffindor. I have to correct that statement. NOW, I have never been more ashamed to be a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Out of everybody in the entire school, only eleven people didn't believe that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin! Everybody should be ashamed of themselves! You know what I told Harry to do the day before Hermione was attacked? I told him to mind his own business. I told him to let you die. I told him, who cares about you! We should have let the monster attack you! Harry would have been justified by doing exactly that! I told him to do exactly that. You know what he told me? He told me no. He said, with great power comes great responsibility. Why? Because he cared about you. How did you respond? You treated him like the villain! You sneered at him. You shoved him. You called him names, and you insulted him. He saved your lives for a second year in a row! He saved your lives! OUR lives! I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE ASHAMED OF BEING A HOGWARTS STUDENT! NEVER! That is all I have to say," Draco said.

Then, he sat back down, hoping that his display would sink in. Make them ashamed of their actions. He needed them to think about what he said, because when fifth year happened, he needed the students to remember the last few times they doubted Harry, or the last few times that they insulted his reputation.

The rest of the year as a blazing glory. Hogwarts went back to normal, minus the exams being cancelled. Defense Against the Dark Arts was cancelled. Lucius had been fired from the school governors. Nott was no longer strutting about as if he owned the place. Too soon, he had to go home and face the fury that was Lucius Malfoy, but then again, maybe it would be a good idea to follow through on Operation Lucius a bit earlier than he planned. He enjoyed that time he spent in Hogwarts, as he knew that the second he was back home, he'd be up in his knees in work.

Curiously enough, in his dorm room was a rat in an unbreakable cage. Attached to the cage was a note that read "Use it well." Draco intended to do exactly that. His second year was a success, and Draco had to make sure that third year was just as successful. It would be hard, but managable, hopefully.

The End.

A/N: Yes, Lockhart is dead. I wanted to kill Lockhart as long as I can remember, and now I have. It was a dream come true. Also, this storyline will continue. Unfortunately, I do not know when I'll be able to post it, because I am still writing the next portion. However, I can promise a couple big revelations and some changes to the timeline. So, review and follow me. I shall try not to lead you astray.


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